YuGiOh! Legends
by SSDuelist
Summary: Yugi Muto's story may have ended, but the story of his and his friends' children remains untold. CHAPTER 7 RELEASED! Hikari faces some trouble when Torch Johnson gains a quick advantage! What will she do? Duel Disks all set...ready...GO!
1. The Legends

AN: Okay, here is my Yu-Gi-Oh story. I'm rather new at the Yu-Gi-Oh story writing concept, so be patient with me.

Disclaimer: I do not own _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ or anything related to Kazuki Takahashi's works except for my own original characters and storylines.

...xXx...Chapter 1 – The Legends...xXx...

It was a beautiful day in Domino Town. The sun was shining, and everyone was enjoying a rather relaxing day...except maybe some high school students. A school bell rang out somewhere, and students began to pour out of Domino City High School, happy that the first day of school was finally complete. Many immediately began to socialize with each other, others ran to cars or buses to head home, and others still began to pull out Duel Disks to start up games of Duel Monsters with one another. People had to be on their toes if they were a little late getting out of school because of possible errant attacks from Duel Monsters.

One of those last people out of the school was a sophomore boy named Yuji Muto. He was a very unassuming young man. Besides his spiky, dirty blond hair which garnered a little attention, he looked like any other high school boy. He had blue eyes, and he wore khaki pants, a white t-shirt, and a black jacket. His backpack was slung casually over one shoulder. As he walked past a couple of duelists, he waved to some friends whose Armored Lizard and Battle Warrior were battling fiercely, until the lizard warrior managed to bite Battle Warrior's head off.

As he walked down the stairs of the school, someone shouted, "Hey, Yuji! Wait up!" The blonde haired young man stopped and turned around, a smile appearing on his face as he recognized his two best friends running up to him. The person who had shouted was Melissa Wheeler. Many considered her to be the prettiest girl in the sophomore class, and who could blame them? With her long, blond hair in a ponytail, shining hazel eyes, and killer figure, she was the object of many young men's affections. She was a very outgoing person, and she never stopped at the chance to make new friends, but she wasn't a dating type of person, mostly because her dad was fiercely protective of her. She was also known as an amazing duelist, taking after her championship caliber parents. She wore a tight fitting pair of jeans and a white blouse.

The other person was Kai Bakura. He wasn't naturally very outgoing, but he was very friendly. Therefore, his only real friends were Yuji and Melissa. However, he was also a very good duelist, the embodiment of his father's dueling ability and his mother's card preferences. He had shoulder length, spiky, dark blue hair and coal colored eyes. He wore a white and blue striped t-shirt and khaki pants, with a locket around his neck.

Yuji had been friends with Melissa and Kai ever since birth. His dad, the infamous King of Games Yugi Muto, was best friends with Melissa's dad, Joey Wheeler, and Kai's mom, Teá Bakura when they were in high school, and they kept up contact over the years, all remaining in the town in which they were born. The other of Yugi's best friends, Tristan Taylor, also lived in Domino, and he had a daughter, Caroline, who was a year younger than the other kids. She was a freshman at Domino City High, but she had already left school for the day since freshman orientation was only half a day long.

Now, the friends were heading for the Domino City Game Shop, which had grown tremendously from the days of Solomon Muto's ownership. It was now the premier store in Domino for Duel Monster cards, and it was co-run by Rebecca Muto, Yuji's mother, and Tsuki Muto, Yuji's grandmother. All of the latest cards came there first, and Yuji's mother was a very genial person, so many people went there to get new cards, negotiate on rare finds, or to just hang out. It was also the location of the Muto household, so the kids were heading there to hang out after a long day of school, as they usually did.

Yuji opened the door to the shop, and the bell tinkled. At the counter, a forty year old woman with long blond hair and blue eyes, who had been looking at a magazine, looked up, and her face brightened as she recognized the three kids. "Hey guys! How was your first day of school?" Rebecca Muto asked as she tossed aside the magazine and got up, "I'll get you all something to drink, if you'd like."

"Thanks, Mrs. Muto! Do you have some hot chocolate?" Melissa asked happily. Mrs. Muto glanced around in a nearby cabinet and nodded, pulling out a hot chocolate powder packet and a mug. A pot of boiling water was nearby, presumably leftovers from Mrs. Muto's afternoon tea, and Yuji's mom poured some into the mug. Ripping open the package expertly, she swiftly poured the contents into the mug, got a spoon from a drawer, and put the mug in front of Melissa with a smile.

"I'm fine, Mrs. Muto, but thank you," Kai said politely.

"I'm good, too, Mom," Yuji added, "School was a little boring, but that's not anything new."

"Well, the first few days can be a little boring," Mrs. Muto agreed, "But it'll get a lot more fun after a few days."

All three kids made a disgusted face. "This coming from someone who skipped straight from middle school to college," Yuji muttered.

Mrs. Muto swatted her son over the head with the rolled up magazine she had recovered, "Don't backtalk your mother, Yuji. School is fun if you allow it to be."

"No offense, Mrs. Muto, but school isn't exactly what I'd call 'fun,'" Melissa muttered. Her sour expression quickly dissipated, however, as she took a sip of her now-ready hot chocolate, and she purred in delight.

"Did you just purr?" Kai asked hesitantly. Yuji flinched at his friend's mistake and watched as the blonde beauty bristled in rage.

"Yeah...is that a problem, Kai?" Melissa asked back dangerously.

Kai realized his mistake and quickly backpedalled, "No, no, not at all!" In an effort to get the heat off of him, he quickly asked Mrs. Muto, "So...um...how's business been today?"

"Alright," Mrs. Muto replied, smirking at Kai's mistake, "We had a wave of college-aged duelists right before lunchtime, and when freshmen orientation was over, a lot of those kids came over as well. Caroline came over and picked up that card that she had wanted that I had misplaced. We should be seeing the rest of the kids from your school here in about twenty minutes."

"Hey, Mom, where's Takashi?" Yuji asked, referring to his 11-year old brother.

"Oh, he's upstairs, getting his deck ready," she replied, glancing towards the doorway behind the counter where the Muto living quarters were located, "He said he wanted to have a duel with you tonight if you felt in the mood for it."

"That's fine. I was thinking about asking him the same thing during school today," Yuji replied.

The group kept on chatting for a few minutes until the bell at the front door tinkled. All four people present turned their heads to look at the newcomer. It was a girl, surprisingly. She had shoulder length brown hair, with bangs secured by a hairclip, and brown eyes. Her skin color was more tan than most people from the area. She wore a light blue blouse and a matching knee length skirt, and on her blouse she wore a small silver pin. As did many people of the age, she wore the latest model of the Kaibacorp Duel Disk on her arm. "Excuse me," she said politely, "does Yuji Muto live here?"

Yuji stood up apprehensively, sending a suspicious glance at the Duel Disk. "That's me. Do you need something?" he replied slowly.

"Yes, actually. I was wondering if you would be so kind as to duel with me. Ever since my father got me into Duel Monsters, I've had a desire to duel with the King of Games. You see, he told me many stories about him and his amazing skill, and I wanted to test my own abilities against him. Unfortunately, since he is no longer available to provide me that, I'd like to duel with you instead. I've heard that you are a formidable opponent yourself," she explained, walking a few steps into the store.

Melissa and Kai immediately heard something they did not expect nor like. Yugi Muto had died a few years prior in a tragic archeological accident, and Yuji stopped dueling altogether, except with his mother, brother, Melissa, and Kai. He did it for two reasons. One was as a tribute to his father, who was known as the greatest duelist ever to grace the earth. The other was that he feared that he would not be able to do his father proud as a free standing duelist. This second reason was only revealed to his loved ones during his freshman year of high school.

Another reason for quitting was all of the people who came to Domino asking to duel Yuji since Yugi was dead. Their rationale behind that was that they assumed that Yuji was just a replacement for his father. This greatly angered Yuji, as he respected his father greatly, as both a father and as a duelist who taught him everything he knew. Many respected his wishes and just left him be, but some grew a little forceful. However, once Melissa and Kai stepped in and dueled instead, the bullies went their separate ways. That was why Yuji respected Melissa and Kai as extremely good friends. They did not see him as the son of a famous duelist; rather, they saw him as the person he was and nothing more.

As he did for many people, Yuji shook his head and said, "I don't know where you got that information, but I have to decline your challenge. I'm sorry, but I'm don't duel just anyone. I don't have much respect for those who disrespect my father by thinking I'm just a replacement for him."

The girl did not look fazed but instead immediately shot back response, seemingly ignoring what Yuji had just said, "So you're trying to get rid of me because you're afraid I'll defeat you and prove that Yugi Muto was just a half-baked fake?"

Her words seemed to have an effect on Yuji, as he lowered his head so his eyes were not visible, and he did not speak for a few moments. However, he raised his head, and Melissa and Kai saw a fierce look in his eyes that was not present before. "Listen...whoever you are," he growled, "meet me outside in two minutes. I'll show you that my father was not a fake by using his cards to defeat you!" Without another word, he turned and left for the house out back to retrieve his deck. The girl smirked and walked outside to wait for her opponent.

Both Melissa and Kai were stunned. Since they had known Yuji, after his father died, he had not once accepted a challenge to duel. Now he seemed to be at a new level of confidence. "Mrs. Muto..." Melissa whispered worriedly, "Is Yuji okay?"

Mrs. Muto, who had been giving the girl a long and hard look, seemed for a moment like she had recognized the girl, but when Melissa addressed her, any look of recognition immediately disappeared, and she responded softly, "Yes, he is."

"But he's never agreed to duel someone who just wants to see him as his father. Why's this time any different?" Kai argued.

Mrs. Muto was quick to answer, "He's fighting to protect his father's image. No one has ever attempted to defame Yugi the way that girl has, and my son feels a responsibility to protect him." Despite the whirlwind of emotions going on in her head, she tried to put on a good front and continued, "Let's go outside and watch the duel. I don't think it'll be bad to close up shop for the rest of the day." The two kids nodded and headed outside as well, Melissa with her mug of hot chocolate clutched in her hands. Mrs. Muto locked up shop and joined them.

A few minutes later, Yuji briskly walked around the side of the building, his worn and aged Duel Disk securely on his arm and his deck ready to go. Moments later, a younger version of Yuji, except with shorter hair, followed behind and ran over to the three observers. On his arm was a newer version of the Duel Disk on Yuji's arm. "Hey, Mom, who is that girl, and why is Yuji dueling her?" the boy asked curiously.

"That girl offered your brother a challenge he couldn't resist, so he's taking her on, Takeshi," Mrs. Muto replied, "Just watch. I can guarantee it will be an excellent duel."

"If you say so..." Takeshi Muto replied, looking skeptical.

Yuji walked so he was opposite of the girl and said quietly, "Okay, let's get this over with." He activated his Duel Disk, and the girl did the same, sending out the holographic projectors. A coin hologram appeared on the field, and Yuji said, "Okay, you can have the call if you tell me your name."

"Alright," the girl responded cheerfully, "I'm Hikari. It's nice to meet you, Yuji Muto! I call tails!" The coin flew into the air and landed, showing...

"Tails! Yay, I won!" Hikari said happily, clutching her hands together in delight, "I'll go first!" Both duelists drew their opening hands, their life points both at 8000, and Hikari drew another card as her turn began. Yuji gazed at his hand for a moment before shifting his eyes to his opponent, who was carefully studying her cards. She finally made up her mind concerning her first move and said, "Okay, for my first move, I activate the power of Spell Absorption!" As she put the card into her Duel Disk, it appeared on the field.

"Let me explain its effect," she said, "As long as this card remains on the field, every time a Spell Card is activated, I gain 500 life points." As she explained the effect, a spectral hand extended from the card and remained suspended in midair, awaiting activation. "Unfortunately, I can't gain anything just from activating it, but it'll come in handy soon enough," she gushed.

On the sidelines, Melissa rolled her eyes. "This girl is starting to grate on my nerves. Yuji had better beat her..."

Hikari chose another card from her hand and slapped it on her Duel Disk. A large dragon, on all fours, with spikes protruding from its back appeared on the field. "I can only Normal Summon my Cave Dragon (ATK 2000; DEF 100) when I have no other monsters on my side of the field, but he'll be tough to get through." She picked up another card and continued, "I'll lay one card facedown and end my turn. Dazzle me, Yuji Muto. Show me what you're capable of."

Yuji quietly drew another card, bringing his hand to six cards. He gave his hand a quick look and picked one card, slapping onto his Duel Disk. "I summon the female sorcerer Maha Vailo (ATK 1550, 1400)!" As he said this, a woman with a dark blue dress, a gold-adorned hat, and two large wings sprouting from her back appeared on the field. She immediately knelt down and settled into a meditative pose.

Hikari chuckled, "That monster has nothing on my Cave Dragon. You're going to have to do better than that."

"I'm not done yet," Yuji retorted, "I activate the magic of Mage Power to power up my Maha Vailo!" He inserted a card into the Duel Disk, and it appeared on the field, leaking multicolored energy. Maha Vailo began to glow with that power, and her attack and defense shot up to 2050 and 1900...and then her attack increased again to 2550! At the same time, Hikari's Spell Absorption kicked in. The ghostly hand shot over and pulled out a small amount of energy from the Mage Power card, and her life points increased to 8500.

"Wait, why did your monster's attack go up to 2550?" Hikari demanded angrily, "There's only one Spell Card on your side of the field. Maha Vailo's attack should be 2050!"

"Someone forgot to read the fine print, didn't they?" Yuji laughed, "Maha Vailo gains 500 attack for every Equip Spell Card attached to her. It's a great power. Now, Maha Vailo, attack Cave Dragon with Equipment Sorcery!" Yuji's spellcaster raised her hands and fired a blast of energy not unlike the power up from Mage Power. It hit Hikari's dragon, and it exploded. Hikari herself was knocked back a few steps as her life points decreased to 7950.

"That wasn't very nice," she grumbled, steadying herself again and glaring her opponent.

"That was using my cards effectively," Yuji corrected, "I end my turn. Can you do better?"

"I can do better than better!" Hikari exclaimed, drawing another card, bringing her hand total to four. "I'll Set one monster facedown, and I'll place another card facedown and end my turn!"

"Alrighty then, I draw!" Yuji said, his hand increasing to five, "I'll set one card facedown and end my turn as well." As he ended his turn, Yuji's Maha Vailo absorbed some more of the Mage Power, and her ATK and DEF shot up to 3050 and 2400. By the look on Hikari's face, Yuji did not play as she had hoped, and he voiced his opinion, "I'm not going to fall into a trap, you know. I'm not that dumb."

"I know that," Hikari replied, quickly recovering, "It's just good to see that you have your father's instincts in the heat of battle." Ignoring the sudden look of uncertainly in Yuji's eyes, she drew another card. "Alright. I'll...end my turn, I guess," she muttered, looking dejected.

After Hikari's lackluster turn, the field was as so. Yuji was sitting at a full 8000 LP, and he had his Maha Vailo on the field, empowered by Mage Power and its own effect, with an ATK and DEF of 3050 and 2400, respectively. He also had one other card facedown. Hikari was slightly behind, with her LP at 7950. She had her Spell Absorption activated, a set monster, and one other card facedown.

"You must not be having a very good day," Yuji commented as he drew another card, shaking away any doubts in his mind. He inspected his current hand and took a minute to think. When he finally made his move, he didn't do anything else except shout out, "Maha Vailo! Attack her facedown monster with Equipment Sorcery!" His monster obeyed and charged up her signature attack.

However, Hikari would have nothing of it. "Not on my watch! I activate Negate Attack!" As she revealed one of her facedown cards, a giant spacial vortex began to form in front of Hikari's facedown monster. "This will negate your attack and immediately end your Battle Phase! How do you like that?"

Yuji did not seem too impressed, as he simply activated his own facedown card in response. "Sorry, but you won't be using that Trap Card today...or any day, to be honest. I activate Royal Decree!" A large rumble began, and its origins were right behind Yuji, as a large tower appeared, with an imperially dressed man standing on top. He simply raised his hand, and the Negate Attack vortex dissipated.

"No!" Hikari shouted helplessly, "Now I can't use any Trap Cards!"

"Exactly right! Now, I think I have an attack to commence? Go, Maha Vailo!" Yuji shouted happily. His sorcerer released her pent up energy and shot it at Hikari's facedown monster. It briefly flipped face up, revealing a small, green dragon before the magical energy obliterated it.

"Yes! You destroyed my Troop Dragon (ATK 700; DEF 800)! Now I can Special Summon one more from my deck, and I think I will, in defense mode!" Hikari exclaimed, replacing her defeated dragon with a new one from her deck. The armed and armored green dragon knelt down in defense, holding its sword in front of it.

Yuji glanced again at his hand before saying, "Okay, I'll end my turn. Your move, Hikari."

The girl across from him looked quite disgruntled despite one of her plans coming together, and it showed as she jerked a card out of her deck for her draw. She looked at the new card and hissed. "I...I end my turn," she muttered, adding the card to her hand dejectedly.

"Okay, my turn again," Yuji said, drawing another card. He grinned when he saw what it was, and he exclaimed, "Awesome! I'll activate the Field Spell Card Yami!" As he put the card into his Field Spell slot, the field began to fill with dark shadows. His opponent's Spell Absorption kicked in again, and her life points went up to 8450.

"Wh-What's going on?" Hikari asked, glancing around at the shifting shadows.

"Just my Yami Field Spell. It increases the attack of all Spellcasters and Fiends by 200. Take a look at my monster, for instance," he explained, waving his hand at his spellcaster. Hikari followed his gesture and saw that Maha Vailo's ATK and DEF had shot up some more to 3750 and 2900, making her groan in dismay. "Okay, one more time, Maha Vailo!" Yuji exclaimed. His femme fatale nodded and blasted the second Troop Dragon into oblivion. Its effect activated for the last time, and Hikari Special Summoned one more in defense mode. "Your turn," Yuji said simply.

His opponent half-heartedly drew her card, but her expression soon turned to one of glee. "Oh, this is amazing!"

"Really? Did you get a decent draw?" Yuji asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow in doubt.

"Just wait and see!" Hikari said gleefully, "First off, I activate Change of Heart to take control of your Maha Vailo!"

Yuji's eyes widened in horror as he realized what was probably coming, "Damn...!"

As she played her card, the spectral hand of Spell Absorption took the essence of the Spell Card, and her life points shot up to 8950. The two faced angel of Change of Heart flew out of Hikari's card and entered Maha Vailo, and the female sorceress teleported and reappeared on Hikari's side of the field, next to the defending Troop Dragon. Dejected at the loss of one of his favorite monsters, Yuji picked up the card and tossed it over to Hikari, who happily slapped it down on her own Duel Disk.

"Now, if you liked that, you're going to love this!" I sacrifice both my Troop Dragon and your Maha Vailo to summon my almighty beast of destruction...the Blue-Eyes White Dragon (ATK 3000; DEF 2500)!" As the small green dragon and sorceress disappeared in a rush of air, Yuji's Mage Power card was destroyed. Hikari tossed Maha Vailo back to Yuji, who caught it in a sort of daze as he watched the event play out. The rush of wind began to swirl around behind Hikari, and a few moments later, the white beast of destruction emerged from the vortex, roaring as it entered the field. Its controller smirked in satisfaction as her opponent and the observers gasped in surprise and horror.

"Wh-What?" Yuji gasped, "The only person with copies of that card is Seto Kaiba! There's no way he'd give them away just like that!"

"Well, there is a way, so too bad!" Hikari gloated, "Now I'm in control of this duel, and there's nothing you can do to stop me!" Yuji could do nothing except scowl at the beast. However, despite its fierce entry, the white dragon knelt down next to its handler and rubbed its face against her face, making Hikari giggle a little bit.

On the sidelines, Mrs. Muto narrowed her eyes, first looking at the dragon and then at its controller. 'I was right,' she thought grimly, 'She has to be that person's daughter...that dragon wouldn't act that way unless it was someone like her controlling it...'

Kai had a grim expression on his face, and Melissa was almost in hysterics, "C'mon, Yuji! Beat her into the ground! I know you can do it!"

"Easy for you to say," he grumbled, "You're not the one looking at one of the most powerful monsters ever to be created..."

Hikari whispered something to her dragon, and it got back up and let out a mighty roar. "Enough chit-chat!" she shouted, "Time for me to take a chunk out of your life points! Blue-Eyes, use your Burst Stream of Destruction!" Her dragon, as she said that, began to charge up a ball of white lightning in its mouth, and when she pointed at the defenseless Yuji, it shot the blast at the boy.

"Not on my watch! I discard Kuriboh to reduce the damage to my life points to 0!" Yuji said unexpectedly, placing his Kuriboh card in his discard pile. As he did that, a wall of brown, fluffy Kuriboh began to appear on his side of the field, and the Burst Stream destroyed them all. However, Yuji's life points were safe for the time being.

"Phew," Yuji sighed as he wiped off his brow, "That was a close one..."

"So you got lucky once?" Hikari taunted her opponent, "That won't work every time, you know. I'll go ahead and end my turn."

Yuji silently drew his next card, and his eyes widened when he saw what he had drawn. "Alright, I summon my Injection Fairy Lily (ATK 400; DEF 1500) in Attack Position!" As he placed his new monster on his Duel Disk, a cute nurse with pink hair, angel wings, and a human-sized hypodermic needle in her hands appeared on the field. Since Lily was a Spellcaster-Type monster, her attack and defense increased again to 600 and 1700, respectively.

"And that's supposed to scare me?" Hikari said dully, giving Yuji's monster a doubtful look.

"I think so," Yuji said deviously, "Lily, attack her Blue-Eyes!" The nurse nodded and took to the air, with her needle held tightly in her hands.

"Okay...now I know you aren't Yugi Muto's son. He'd never do something like this without a plan. That monster is way too weak to defeat my dragon..." Hikari muttered, "Blue-Eyes, counterattack with White Lightning!" Even as she said that, the white dragon began to charge up another sparking attack in its mouth.

"Oh, but I do have a plan!" Yuji exclaimed, "During the Damage Step of a battle that Lily's in, I can give up 2000 life points to increase her attack by 3000!" Yuji's life points decreased to 6000, and Lily grinned as her needle ballooned to three times its previous size, her attack increasing accordingly to 3600. Rearing back with a little difficulty, she threw the oversized projectile at the dragon. Hikari's Blue-Eyes shot off a lightning ball, but the needle pierced through the attack, dispersing it, and pierced the dragon's hide. Despite the roars of pain and anger, the Blue-Eyes couldn't stand up to the assault, and it exploded, reducing Hikari's life points to 8350. Said player stared in disbelief at her field, as what was left of her dragon dispersed into the air.

"Dang it!" she exclaimed angrily, "You just destroyed my monster!"

"Wow...she's brilliant..." Melissa muttered, rolling her eyes. Kai stifled a fit of laughs that had appeared, and Mrs. Muto even grinned a little bit. Melissa even smiled a bit, but she added, "Your son had better beat him. I hate this girl..."

Back on the playing field, Yuji took one more glance at his hand and said, "That's all for now. Let's see what you can do." He also thought, 'Hopefully I can keep this duel somewhat in control.'

...xXx...

AN: Hope you enjoyed it!


	2. Explanations

AN: Okay, Hikari vs. Yuji part 2. Hope it suits ya!

Disclaimer: I do not own _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ or anything related to Kazuki Takahashi's works except for my own original characters and storylines.

...xXx...Chapter 2 – Explanations...xXx...

Intense was a good way to describe the duel currently taking place in front of the Domino City Game Shop. Yuji's classmates were starting to crowd around the two duelists in front of the store, trying to watch something they never thought they'd get to see – Yuji dueling. He was sitting at 6000 LP, with his Injection Fairy Lily on the field, her ATK and DEF boosted to 600 and 1700 due to his Yami Field Spell. Along with Yami, Yuji also had Royal Decree activated, preventing all Traps from being used. Hikari's LP were at 8350, and her field was bare, as her Blue-Eyes White Dragon had just been destroyed by Yuji's Lily.

Hikari yanked one more card from the top of her deck and shouted, "I Summon Gray Wing (ATK 1300; DEF 700) in Attack Position!" As she played the card, a small and thin, but long, dragon with wings as big as the monster's body appeared on the field. It began to fly around Hikari's side of the field, and the girl duelist smirked, "My Gray Wing has a special ability. If I discard a card in my hand to the graveyard, Gray Wing can attack twice during my Battle Phase. So I'll send my Y-Dragon Head to the graveyard," and she put a monster into her graveyard, "and my Gray Wing attacks. Destroy that creepy Lily with Double Biting Barrage!" The Gray Wing, suddenly a lot faster than before, shot towards Injection Fairy Lily, who bared her needle in defense. Gray Wing attempted to bite Lily's head off, but the needle in Lily's hands tripled in size again, and the winged nurse counterattacked by jabbing the needle straight through the small dragon, destroying it and bringing Hikari's life points down to 6050.

"For someone who holds herself in such high regard, you sure don't know your cards," Yuji remarked, as his life points decreased to 4000, "Lily's effect can be used during either of our turns. In other words, you just wasted a card from your hand for nothing."

Hikari just scowled and muttered, "I end my turn."

"Great!" Yuji exclaimed, drawing another card, "I have just what I need to lock up this duel. First, I activate Cost Down!" Yuji played his Spell Card, and it appeared on the field, with two small daggers sticking out of the card. They shot out of the Spell Card and went into another card still in Yuji's hand. Then the effect of Hikari's Spell Absorption kicked in, and her life points increased to 6550.

"Oh, no..." his opponent muttered, realizing what was about to happen.

"Oh, yes! I guess you know what that card does," Yuji said proudly. The look on Hikari's face gave him his answer, and he continued, "I can lower the levels of all the monsters in my hand by two until the end of my turn. That means I can sacrifice my Lily to Summon a level seven monster that has been downgraded to level five...the ultimate dragon slayer, Buster Blader (ATK 2600; DEF 2300)!" Yuji exclaimed, slapping his new monster onto his Duel Disk and putting Lily in the graveyard. The Lily on the field disappeared in a vortex of air, and in her place rose a warrior, covered in blue and orange armor and carrying a massive sword, one just as tall as he was. He stood up from his kneeling position and put one hand on the sword behind his back, readying for an attack.

"And there's one more thing. Do you know his special effect?" Yuji asked slyly. Hikari thought for a moment, and her face paled significantly. "I guess you do!" he continued, smirking triumphantly, "He gets 500 attack points for every Dragon-type monster on your side of the field and in your graveyard. Let's count them up!" He touched a button on his Duel Disk, and Hikari's graveyard popped up. "Okay, there's Cave Dragon, 3 Troop Dragons, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and Gray Wing. That's six dragons by my count, so Buster Blader gets 3000 more attack points!" Buster Blader pulled the large sword from his back, and his attack shot up to 5600!

"That's...really...strong..." the young woman mumbled, looking at the swordsman with a bit of fear.

"You bet it is! Okay, my warrior, attack her life points directly!" Yuji shouted. The dragon slayer nodded and took a grand jump into the air, coming down and swinging hard at a terrified Hikari...but he only tapped her Duel Disk lightly before jumping back to Yuji's side of the field, taking her life points down to a low 950. When Hikari lowered her Duel Disk and sent her opponent a questioning look, he said, "I'm not heartless. It's rude to hit a lady, right?" He looked at his warrior, and he grunted, nodding his agreement. "That's all for now."

"Okay...my draw..." she mumbled, still trying to figure out that last play of Yuji's. She glanced at her three cards and chose two of them. "I'll set one card and activate Silent Doom!" One card appeared facedown in her Spell and Trap Card Zone, and another appeared on the field. A large hand shot from the card into the ground and pulled up the defeated Blue-Eyes from earlier. The dragon laid down and settled into a defensive pose, resting on top of its card. "I can Special Summon one Normal Monster from my graveyard with this card in defense mode, but I can't attack with it. He can still defend my life points well enough, so I'll end with that."

Yuji drew another card and shouted, "Okay, Buster Blader, attack Blue-Eyes with Dragon Slaying Sword!" His warrior once again took a mighty leap into the air and came down, aiming to slice the dragon in two, but Hikari had other plans.

"I activate Enemy Controller!" she shouted, revealing her facedown card. As the card appeared, a video game controller appeared, and a cord shot from the controller into the back of Buster Blader's neck, stopping him temporarily. "I could take control of him, but that would be a waste of my Blue-Eyes, since he goes right back to you afterwards," Hikari explained, "so I'll just change him to defense mode. Input code B, A, B, A, up, up, right, left!" The buttons depressed as Hikari called out her order, and the warrior jumped back to his side of the field, kneeling down with his sword held in front of him.

"So you stopped my attack? No big deal. Now, I move to Main Phase 2 and activate Giant Trunade!" As he activated his card, a large wind kicked up over the field, and all of the Spells and Traps on the field flew back to their owners' hands. The tower behind Yuji and the swirling darkness disappeared as a result of this.

"Next, I'll set two cards facedown, reactivate Yami, and end my turn," Yuji said, setting two cards, one of which Hikari knew was probably Royal Decree. Yami's dark shadows returned as the Field Spell came back into play.

Hikari drew her next card, set the card blown back to her hand by Giant Trunade, and reactivated Spell Absorption. "Now that my field is back, I'll activate Monster Reborn!" As that card appeared on the field, Spell Absorption increased Hikari's life points to 1950.

Yuji gritted his teeth, "Damn..."

"You know what it does then? Great!" she chirped, "I can bring back a monster from my graveyard, and I choose Gray Wing!" Her small dragon reappeared on the field as the ankh of Monster Reborn glowed brightly. "He's not going to be around long, though as I sacrifice him and my Blue-Eyes to Summon...my second Blue-Eyes!" The two monsters on Hikari's side of the field disappeared quickly, and in their place, the second beast of destruction appeared next to Hikari, growling fiercely.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Melissa groaned. "First she has a card that she shouldn't have at all in the first place, and now she has two of them? That's not cool at all."

"You're telling me," Yuji replied, sizing up the fierce dragon with a bit of trepidation.

Buster Blader's attack went up again to 6100, but that wasn't very useful, as he was currently in Defense Position. "Blue-Eyes, destroy his swordsman with White Lightning!" she exclaimed, and her dragon shot off a white ball of plasma which obliterated Yuji's Buster Blader. "That's enough punishment for one turn, I think."

Yuji drew, and his face fell a little bit. Nevertheless, he chose the other card in his hand and played it. "I'll activate Dark Magic Curtain. I can pay half of my remaining life points to use this, and I can summon my Dark Magician (ATK 2500; DEF 2100) from my deck, in defense mode!" The picture on the card suddenly manifested itself on the field, and as Yuji's life points went down to 2000, the curtain fluttered open to reveal the purple-dressed, staff bearing spellcaster – the Dark Magician. His attack and defense increased to 2700 and 2300, respectively, due to Yuji's Yami Field Spell. He knelt down and held his staff in front of him defensively, giving the Blue-Eyes a calculating glance. The dragon, in response, hissed and narrowed its eyes at the spellcaster.

"That's all I can do for now, so it's your move," Yuji sighed.

"Works for me!" Hikari said happily, drawing another card. "First off, I'll activate Dragon's Rage!" Her card flipped up, revealing a picture of a charging dragon. "This is a Continuous Trap Card that allows me to inflict damage to your life points even if your monster is in Defense Position. The defense of your monster is subtracted from the attack of any of my dragons, and the difference is inflicted to you as damage." Yuji scowled in disgust, but Hikari didn't care as she shouted, "Blue-Eyes, attack..."

"Not so fast. I activate Magical Hats!" Yuji interrupted, playing his own trap. Three hats appeared on the field, concealing the Dark Magician in one. Yuji took two other cards from his deck and showed them to his opponent, revealing them to be Polymerization and Black Pendant. "With this card, I can take a monster I control and put him in facedown Defense Position and take two Spell Cards from my deck and do the same thing, treating them as monsters with 0 ATK and DEF." The two Spells disappeared beneath the other two hats, and they began to shuffle before settling down. Yuji shuffled the cards as well and set all three. "Now, knock yourself out."

"Alright, I will. Blue-Eyes, win this duel and attack the..." Hikari started to say again, but Yuji wasn't done, suddenly smirking mischievously.

"Oops, sorry, forgot about one more thing! I reactivate Royal Decree!" he said, as the tower once again appeared behind him. The emperor held his hand out, and the Dragon's Rage card was neutralized, while still remaining on the field.

"Dang it!" Hikari exclaimed, "Blue-Eyes, attack the left hand monster!" Her mighty dragon obeyed and blasted it to bits, but not before a necklace flew from it and landed around Hikari's neck. It glowed slightly, and Hikari winced as a curse brought her life points down to 1950 again. The necklace disappeared after that.

"Guess you weren't too lucky. You destroyed my Black Pendant, and it reduces your life points by 500 when it's sent from the field to the graveyard," Yuji commented. "I'll send Polymerization to my graveyard, since you don't have anything else to attack with."

"Yeah...I end my turn..." Hikari muttered.

"Excellent!" her opponent replied, drawing. This time, his face lit up when he saw what he had drawn, and he said, "Well, it was a good duel, but I think I just drew the winning card."

"You said that last time, and it didn't work. Why are you so sure this time?" Hikari pointed out, not looking convinced.

"Just wait and see. I activate Magical Dimension," he exclaimed. When the card was played, a large coffin-like object appeared on the field, and Hikari's life points went up again to 2450. "I can only activate this when there's a spellcaster under my control, and my Dark Magician fits the bill perfectly. Then, I sacrifice one monster on my side of the field and Special Summon a spellcaster from my hand." Dark Magician appeared again on the field, and he flew into the object, which snapped shut behind him.

Yuji took the last card in his hand and said, "Now, I Summon my Dark Magician of Chaos (ATK 2800; DEF 2600) in attack mode!" The coffin opened up again, and a magician in a tight, black and purple body suit, with a two-pronged hat and long, black hair, appeared on the field, wielding an upgraded version of the Dark Magician's staff.

Hikari immediately began to drool over the monster. "Ooh, he's so hot!" she crooned, "Can I have that card after the duel's over?"

Dark Magician of Chaos looked like a combination of embarrassed and happy for the attention, and Yuji snapped, "Oh, please. While I'm sure he's flattered, we're trying to duel here!" Hikari pouted and looked away, though she peeked a few times and winked at the Dark Magician of Chaos, who now only looked thoroughly embarrassed.

Kai stifled a laugh when he saw Yuji's monster's discomfort, and Melissa growled, "This girl is psycho! Falling in love with a Duel Monster? Give me a break!"

Yuji smirked, making sure to take a mental note of what Melissa had just said, before saying, "Now, there are two more things before I finish this. First, Magical Dimension's last effect allows me to destroy one monster on the field, and I think I'll choose your Blue-Eyes!" Hikari's face drooped in disbelief as the Magical Dimension coffin sucked in the dragon and closed before sinking into the ground. "Next, my Dark Magician of Chaos allows me to take a Spell Card from my graveyard when he's summoned and add it to my hand, and I choose Mage Power!" He took the card out of his graveyard and added it to his hand, "I won't play it, since I have just enough firepower to defeat you now. Dark Magician of Chaos, attack with Chaos Magic!" His magician twirled his staff around and slammed it into the ground. A ball of sparking magic shot out of the staff and hit Hikari, reducing her life points to 0. Looking disappointed, she shut her Duel Disk off and got her cards together.

Yuji did the same thing and walked over towards his opponent, standing just a few feet away from her. He looked long and hard at her and finally asked, "Well, do I live up to my father's standards? I hope this duel did something to confirm whatever you were trying to figure out."

Hikari's face was overshadowed by her head being held down, but when she lifted it, her expression was full of regret. "I'm so sorry I said all of those things earlier! I just wanted to help you get back into dueling!"

"Wait...what?" Yuji said, becoming very confused.

"My dad had said he had heard from your mother that you were reluctant to duel with people, but that you were really good, and I thought I could get a chance to duel with you if I gave you some incentive, but I really didn't mean any of the things I said!" she continued, now looking very apologetic and about ready to cry.

"Your dad? Do I even know who your dad is?" Yuji asked skeptically.

"That would be me, Yuji," someone said near where Mrs. Muto, Melissa, and Kai were standing. Both kids turned around in surprise, and Yuji looked over as well, his eyes widening as he recognized the person.

"Seto Kaiba..." Yuji breathed. Behind Mrs. Muto, who didn't look very surprised that he had appeared there, was the CEO of Kaiba Corporation. His appearance hadn't changed much over the years. He wore a custom tailored purple suit and had a suitcase held tightly in his hand. The major thing different was that he now sported a moustache and goatee. Yuji looked around and saw a limo parked partially behind the game shop that hadn't been there earlier.

"Hikari, I told you not to get in a rush," Kaiba said sternly, "I wanted to sit down and talk with them in person."

"But Dad, I wanted to give Yuji the invitation after I tested him!" Hikari whined.

"There was no need to test him in the first place," Kaiba shot back, "I know how good he is. Rebecca used to be the American National Champion, and she's Yuji's mother, so I think I can count on her opinion of her own son." His daughter just pouted and looked away.

"Um...excuse me if I'm out of line, but what exactly are you talking about...um...Mr. Kaiba, sir?" Kai asked uncertainly.

Kaiba didn't immediately answer his question but said instead, "You're Ryou Bakura's son, Kai, correct? And you," and he moved his gaze to Melissa, "are Melissa Wheeler, Mai Valentine's daughter." Both nodded silently. "I've heard that you two are quite good as well. But we can discuss that and a lot more in a few minutes." Finally, Kaiba looked at the younger version of Yuji hiding partially behind his mother. He knelt down and said, "You're Takeshi, aren't you? It's nice to meet you, young man."

Takeshi was star struck and barely managed to mumble, "Cool..." before completely hiding behind Mrs. Muto.

"He's still a little shy around strangers, Seto, but trust me, he's a chatterbox around people he knows," Mrs. Muto said cheerfully, "Let's go inside. It might be a little more private there," she added, eying the many spectators who had gathered. A vast majority of them were classmates of Yuji's, and they were giving him looks of either jealously or surprise.

"Excellent," Kaiba said, turning around and sweeping into the store, his daughter not far behind. Kai and Melissa followed him, still looking confused, and Mrs. Muto, holding Takeshi's hand, motioned for Yuji to come in as well. He did, also in a daze, and went in the store in front of his mother, who locked up the shop and put the sign to 'Closed.'

Kaiba made himself at home on the couch in the front sitting area, and Hikari plopped down next to him. The other three kids sat down on the other couch, and Mrs. Muto stood by the front door, keeping an eye on the kids outside. Takeshi remained by his mother, carefully watching the proceedings about to take place.

"I'm sure you are wondering what the true purpose of my visit here today is, so let me get straight to the point," Kaiba said, opening his suitcase, "I'm sure you three have heard of the Duelist Kingdom tournament that some of your parents participated in, right?" All three nodded. "Good, then that will cut out some of the explanation. I have been working with Maximillion Pegasus lately on a top secret project, and everything associated with that has finally been worked out. If my hyperactive daughter here," Hikari stuck her tongue out playfully, "hadn't gotten in a hurry, I would have done this sooner, but I will admit she and you, Yuji, played a good duel, so it wasn't all that bad."

"Well, sorry...you're the one who said I needed to get to know my classmates better..." Hikari muttered.

"Classmates?" Melissa asked doubtfully, hoping what she was thinking wasn't true.

"Yes. My daughter here is transferring to Domino City High. We had lived in America for the past year, working with Pegasus on the new Duelist Kingdom project, so Hikari didn't attend Domino City High for her freshman year," Kaiba explained.

"That's great. Welcome back to Domino!" Yuji said happily.

Both of his friends looked at him. "What's with the sudden mood change?" Kai asked.

"Well, it's good to have another strong duelist around. That's not a bad thing," he replied, smiling widely, "And she didn't mean any of that stuff she said, so it's all good."

Melissa wasn't convinced. "I still don't have to like her..."

Kaiba got them back on track, but not before saying to Hikari, "Your mother and I will have a talk later about the 'stuff' you said." To her credit, Hikari tried to ignore the punishment her father had just foreshadowed. Kaiba returned to his explanation. "Well, back to what I was saying. I would like to extend invitations to the three of you, as well as your cousin, Melissa, to come to the Duelist Super Tournament. I've heard she's an excellent duelist as well. I would invite Takeshi, but Pegasus set a stiff age limit, and I'm afraid he doesn't quite make the cut. I'm sorry about that." The young boy looked sad but shrugged and tried to shake it off. "First prize is 100,000 American dollars and a chance to create your own Duel Monsters card alongside Mr. Pegasus himself. What is your answer?"

All three looked thoughtful for a few moments, and then wide smiles broke out on their faces. "You bet we'll go!" they said in unison.

Kaiba allowed a rare smile to grace his face. "Good," he said. He pulled three packages out of his suitcase and left them on the table in front of him. "These are the official invitations to the tournament. It starts in a week. I look forward to seeing you three there."

Mrs. Muto, who had been quiet until then, said, "Melissa, Kai, it's getting a little late. Why don't you get home before your parents start to worry?"

Both nodded, and Melissa said, "Thank you so much, Mr. Kaiba!" before picking up her package and leaving the store.

Kai also said, "Thank you, Mr. Kaiba," before doing the same.

Kaiba didn't leave, as Yuji thought he might would. Instead, he remained seated, his face a lot more grave than before. "Yuji, I would like to apologize in person for what happened to your father. Despite what many people might say, he was a...friend to me, even if I didn't return the favor. He was a great man, and he didn't deserve to die. I may not agree with what my daughter did today, but it did work. I'm glad you have your dueling spirit back. Your father wouldn't want you to stop dueling because he was gone. He would want you to continue living and do what you enjoy most."

Yuji's face also grew more serious, but he kept a small smile present there, and he replied, "Thank you, Mr. Kaiba. I agree with you completely."

"Okay, then. Hikari, let's not intrude on the Mutos any longer," Kaiba said, back to his old, official self, "I look forward to seeing you at the tournament, Yuji."

"Yeah, and I won't lose to you when I see you there!" Hikari added, smirking. Kaiba swept past Mrs. Muto and left, followed behind by his daughter.

...xXx...

AN: I have no doubts that there won't be errors and discontinuities riddled throughout this chapter and the previous one concerning the duel. That is hopefully a one time thing, and I hope to keep the rest in better shape.


	3. Battle of the Beauties, Pt 1

Disclaimer: I do not own _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ or anything related to Kazuki Takahashi's works except for my own original characters and storylines.

...xXx...Chapter 3 – Battle of the Beauties Pt. 1...xXx...

"Man, this is the life!" Yuji exclaimed, flopping down on a poolside chair, clad only in swimming trunks and sunglasses. His Duel Disk lay on the cement next to him, forgotten for the moment.

"You've got that right!" Kai added, doing the same next to him.

"I wish school was like this," Yuji commented, closing his eyes in relaxation.

"You've got that right," Kai agreed, "Lying out in the sun all day and dueling whenever you want...you can't beat that!"

"Ahh...Pegasus really hit the spot with this tournament...I hope the rest of it is exactly like this..." Yuji murmured, beginning to fall asleep in the cool breeze coming off of the ocean. Both boys were relaxing on the deck of the _S.S. Pegasus_, named after its owner. The boat was currently en route to Duelist Kingdom Island, where the Duelist Super Tournament would take place. The boat was filled with duelists of all ages, and they were free to do, really, whatever they wanted until the boat reached the island.

However, their relaxation time was about to come to an end in the form of Melissa Wheeler, decked out in a skimpy bikini and a large straw hat that looked strangely good on her. "Kai! Yuji! Wake up!" she barked. Kai immediately popped away and fell off of his lawn chair in surprise, while Yuji remained oblivious to the world. This did not go over well with Melissa, who dropped her bag next to Yuji's chair and promptly overturned said chair into the pool.

Yuji came up a second later, spluttering furiously. His sunglasses had been moved by the impact of the water so only one eye was covered by them now; the other side of the sunglasses was down by his nose. "Hey, what was that for?" he groaned, hanging on the edge of the pool, looking pitiful.

"For being lazy, that's what! You could be getting your deck ready for the tournament, but no! You've been lying here with Kai all day!" she growled.

"And don't try and ask us if we did the same thing because we did!" another girl standing next to Melissa said, sticking her tongue out playfully. She was also wearing a bikini, and a bandana covered her head. She had long brown hair, currently in a ponytail, blue eyes, and long arms and legs.

"C'mon, Caroline. We got ready before we left," Kai complained, "We don't need to do any more."

"Well Melissa showed me a bunch of holes in my strategy, and she helped me to fix them," Caroline Taylor replied, "For someone who obsesses over dueling, you sure are acting lazy!"

"That's because we made sure to obsess before we came here," Yuji muttered, briefly popping out of the pool to grab an inflatable plastic mattress, "I'd rather enjoy the ride and not worry about dueling." He tossed the mattress into the pool, wrapped his arms around a surprised Melissa's waist and jumped onto it, creating a rather large splash.

"What the heck, Yuji?" she spluttered, pushing him off of her and into the water. That was not a smart move, as Yuji overturned the mattress as he went down, sending Melissa flying into the water.

"Well, you all certainly are having a blast!" someone said from the side of the pool. Yuji and Melissa came up from their excursion and saw Hikari Kaiba standing at the edge of the pool.

"Oh, hey, Hikari!" Yuji said, waving to her from the pool. Melissa also waved, though hesitantly.

Kai quickly got up from the cement, which was growing quite hot, and he pulled Caroline over to the newcomer. "Hikari, this is Caroline Taylor. Caroline, this is Hikari Kaiba."

"It's nice to meet you, Caroline," Hikari said politely.

"Kaiba? Are you Seto Kaiba's daughter?" Caroline asked curiously.

"That's me!" she chirped back. Caroline's eyes grew large.

"Wow! You're the reigning World Duel Monsters Champion!" she whispered excitedly, "You're an amazing duelist!"

"Thanks!" Hikari replied, "I've heard that you're very good as well."

"Who told you that?" Melissa asked suspiciously; she and Yuji had gotten out of the pool by then.

"Yuji did. We were texting the other night, and he told me that all of his friends were amazing duelists. I can't wait to see all of you in action!" Hikari said excitedly.

"Yuji...texted you?" Kai said slowly, turning towards his best friend with a smirk beginning to form on his face.

Yuji noticed that and hissed, "Is that a problem, my dear friend?" Kai shrugged, and Yuji said pompously, "I was trying to get her accustomed to the town again. She's been gone for a year, and stuff changes in a year."

"Yeah, whatever...now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to sunbathe." Melissa muttered. Yuji didn't catch her ire as he pulled his lawn chair out of the water and plopped back down in it. However, he wasn't in it long before a shadow was cast across him.

he slowly opened his eyes to figure out who it was that had disturbed his relaxation time.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I get in your way?" the person simpered apologetically, "I'm soooooo sorry!" Yuji's eyes opened completely as he took in the girl in front of him. Her bikini was absolutely scandalous, and her long, curly brown hair was falling down around her face, framing her sparkling brown eyes. A pink and pale blue Duel Disk was attached to her arm.

"Um...not really," Yuji stammered lamely, "I...I'm Yuji...who are you?"

The girl smiled seductively as she leaned further over. "The name's Angelina Lindstrom, cutie pie. How would you like to come play with me in the pool?" Kai, whose eyes were also bugging out, cleared his head enough to see the double meaning in what the girl had said.

Fortunately, Yuji's rescue came in the form of Melissa, who came running over. "Hey, Yuji, could you hand me my sunscreen? I forgot..." She trailed off as she saw Angelina standing in front of the chairs Yuji and Kai were sitting in. Her face immediately grew stony, and she snapped, "Who the heck are you?"

Angelina stood up and glared at the new arrival. "Why does it matter to you? Now just go along and play with all of the other little girls and let the real women do their job."

Melissa's expression was now one of outrage, and she stomped over, past Angelina, and grabbed her Duel Disk out of her bag. She put it on and armed it, saying, "Okay, that's it. I challenge you to a duel!"

"Melissa, you don't have to..." Yuji tried to say, but Angelina cut him off.

"Alright. I'll take you on. It'll just give me a chance to prove that the most beautiful woman always wins," she breathed. All of the guys around her automatically began to drool, except for Yuji and Kai. Kai wasn't doing anything because Caroline was now sitting with him, and Yuji was still recovering from waking up to Angelina filling his vision.

"I take it that we'll wager two Star Chips?" Melissa growled.

"That works for me," Angelina replied, "but let's add one more wager to the duel. If you win, I won't bother my Yuji anymore, and you can have him, but if I win, you have to give me your deck and promise never to set eyes on Yuji ever again!"

Yuji was sure Melissa wouldn't take such a risky deal, but he was surprised when he heard his best friend snap back as she jammed her hat back on, "Fine! Let's do this!"

"Melissa..." Yuji tried to stop her, but she waved him off.

"Stop it, Yuji!" she said confidently, "I can handle this!" Angelina armed her Duel Disk as well, and the coin appeared between them. Melissa didn't hear Angelina say anything, so she said, "I'll call heads!" The coin flipped into the air and remained there for a few seconds before landing on...

"Tails!" Angelina said gloatingly, "But...I'll let you have the first turn, since you can't seem to get lucky with anything else."

"That does it..." Melissa growled, "I'm SO taking her down. Let's duel!" she shouted, and both girls drew their opening hands. Melissa drew another card, and her face grew gleeful as she saw what she had drawn. "This is a great hand! First, I'll summon my Axe Raider (ATK 1700; DEF 1150)!" A warrior with tattered armor and a golden axe appeared on the field. Melissa selected two other cards and set them. "I'll place these two cards facedown and end my turn. Let's see what you can do."

Angelina silently drew her next card and grinned widely. "Well, it appears I have this match already wrapped up. I activate the Field Spell Electromagnetic Force Field!" Suddenly, a large, electric cage appeared around the duelists. "This is a handy spell," Angelina said gloatingly, "If one of us has a Magnet monster under our control, we do not take any battle damage from battles involving a Magnet monster, and any monster involved in a battle with a Magnet monster loses 300 attack points during damage calculation. Another thing is that whenever a monster is summoned, the controller chooses either a Plus or Minus Counter and places it onto that monster, and if there are already monsters on the field, the controller must put a counter on it right now!"

"Fine, I'll put a Plus Counter on my Axe Raider," Melissa stated, and a large red plus sign appeared on Axe Raider's chest.

Angelina chose another card and played it. "I also activate Electromagnetic Pulse!" A long electric rope formed from the dome, and a magnet flew from the Spell Card and attached to the rope.

"Interesting..." Melissa muttered, "But what does it do?"

"I'm glad you asked!" Angelina chirped, "If I don't have any monsters on my side of the field, I can Special Summon one Magnet monster from my hand, and I choose Alpha the Magnet Warrior (ATK 1400; DEF 1700)!" The magnet suddenly discharged a large amount of electricity, and a humanoid warrior, with magnet armor adorning its shoulders, sword, and shield appeared, brandishing its sword threateningly. Angelina selected another monster and summoned it. "I'll also summon my Beta the Magnet Warrior (ATK 1700; DEF 1600) in attack mode!" Another humanoid warrior, with a magnet helmet and hands, sparked into existence next to his comrade.

"I'll put a Plus Counter on Alpha and a Minus Counter on Beta and attack Axe Raider with Beta!" Angelina shouted. As a red plus and blue minus appeared on Alpha and Beta, the yellow magnet warrior took off running towards the dark swordsman, who raised his blades to counter, even as a lightning bolt came down from the dome and struck him, lowering his attack to 1400. However, Melissa wasn't about to take that lying down.

"I activate Kunai with Chain!" she exclaimed. As her trap was revealed, the weapon pictured on the card flew out, and the chain wrapped itself around Dark Blade's wrist. The three pronged blade hung from the chain, and the dark warrior's attack rose to 1900. The other end, with a large weight around it, wrapped around Beta's body, stopping it in its tracks. It struggled and finally went back to Angelina's side of the field, kneeling down on top of its card. As Beta knelt down, Axe Raider's attack recovered from the effect of Angelina's Field Spell.

"You got lucky. Maybe you have some good cards, but I will still win this duel, and Yuji will be mine!" the beauty said confidently.

"Maybe, but I'm not about to give up that easily," Melissa retorted.

"Whatever. I'll lay one card facedown and end my turn." Barely paying attention to where she put the card, she gave Yuji a quick wink. The object of her affections rolled his eyes and continued to watch Melissa worriedly. Angelina looked like she suddenly remembered something and said, "Oh, wait a second. There's one more thing! You have to pay 500 LP to attack a monster that has the same counter as itself!"

"Seriously?" Melissa groaned before drawing her next card. When she saw what it was, she grinned evilly, "It's my turn, and you're about to be in for a rude awakening! First, I activate Legendary Sword and equip it to my Axe Raider!" Her warrior held out his empty left hand, and the broadsword pictured on the card appeared in his left hand in a shining blaze. His attack and defense quickly rose to 2500 and 1450, respectively.

"So? He's got a sword in addition to that gaudy axe. Big deal!" the brunette beauty muttered, shrugging exaggeratedly.

"Is that how you really feel?" Melissa asked hypothetically, "I'm not sure he likes that all that much. You see, Axe Raider is a warrior of many talents, so handing a sword isn't all he can do. That gaudy axe, as you called it, is about to get a heck of a lot scarier. I activate Earthborn Axe!" As she played her card, Axe Raider's axe grew twice as large and gained some age. Even though it was larger in size, Melissa's warrior had no trouble handling it as he gained 500 attack points, raising his attack up to 3000. Axe Raider looked at Melissa and seemed to scoff at her.

"Th-th-th-three thousand..." Angelina stammered in horror. As if he was responding to her appraisal of his strength, Melissa's warrior definitely smirked that time and began twirling the axe around.

"You bet! And there's one more thing that axe gives to my warrior. If he attacks a monster in defense mode whose defense is less than his attack, the difference is inflicted to you as damage! Now, Axe Raider, attack Beta with Almighty Axe Swing!" Axe Raider took a mighty leap and prepared to cleave Beta clean in half, even as the dome hit him with a bolt of lightning that knocked his attack down to 2700. Another bolt of lightning hit Melissa as well, knocking her LP down to 7500.

Angelina, though still reeling from Axe Raider's massive attack power, shook her head clear and shouted, "I'll activate my trap, Like Charges Repel!" As her trap was revealed, the two red plus signs on the battling monsters' chests began to glow, and Axe Raider suddenly halted his attack and jumped back to Melissa's side of the field. Beta remained unharmed, still kneeling on his card.

"How did you like that? Like Charges Repel allows me to immediately end the Battle Phase of a turn when two monsters with that both have either Plus or Minus Counters battle!" Angelina gushed.

"Fine, that's all I'll do for now..." Melissa grumbled.

"Excellent!" Angelina said happily, drawing another card, "I'll just set one card facedown, switch Beta back to attack mode, and end my turn! Wouldn't want to be too rough on you, would I?" Beta obediently stood back up as his card disappeared.

Her opponent rolled her eyes and said sarcastically, while drawing her next card, "Yeah, that would be terrible, just like this is about to be. I summon my Little-Winguard (ATK 1400; DEF 1800) in attack mode!" A new warrior appeared on the field, this one covered in light blue armor adorned with wings, a navy blue cape, and a sword and shield patterned after his armor. "I'll put a Plus Counter on him as well. Now, Axe Raider, annihilate Beta!" Axe Raider again prepared to slice Beta up, but Angelina was prepared this time.

"I'll activate Opposite Charges Attract!" she shouted, revealing another trap. Axe Raider suddenly stopped his attack and retreated, but Little-Winguard flew off instead and attacked Beta, his attack lowering to 1100 as a result of Electromagnetic Force Field. Beta immediately counterattacked and swung his fist down, smashing the little warrior into the ground. Melissa winced a little at her monster's pain as her life points went down to 6900, but that didn't prevent her from being angry.

"Okay, explain what just happened, ugly!" she snapped, "Why did Little-Winguard attack?"

"It was my trap, stupid!" Angelina hissed back, not liking the insult sent her way, "If I have a monster with either a Plus or Minus Counter and you attack it, I can force another monster of yours to attack as long as it has the opposite kind of counter as my monster!"

The blonde girl just groaned and said, "Fine. I'll end my turn."

"Great!" Angelina said happily, drawing one more card. Her eyes widened as she saw what she had drawn. "This is spectacular! First, I'll summon my Gamma the Magnet Warrior (ATK 1500; DEF 1800) in attack mode, with one Minus Counter as well!" Another magnet warrior now appeared on the field, this one with pink armor, a magnet around its neck, and two wings.

On the sidelines, Yuji's face grew grim, as did Kai's, and he said, "This is not good..."

"What's not good?" Caroline asked curiously, seeing both Yuji and her boyfriend looking very nervous.

"I know what Angelina's about to do, and it's not a good thing," Yuji said grimly, "Just watch."

Angelina sneered deviously as she held up the final card in her hand. "Now, I tribute all three of my magnet warriors to combine them into the ultimate warrior...Valkyrion the Magna Warrior (ATK 3500; DEF 3850)!" Alpha, Beta, and Gamma flew into the air and began to break apart and recombine. The part of the Kunai with Chain still attached to Beta fell limp to the ground, and Axe Raider pulled it back to the blade still around his wrist. The new being was soon revealed to have Alpha's body and sword, an updated version of Beta's head, and Gamma's wings. Valkyrion landed on the field and stood protectively in front of Angelina, whose smirk was about bursting off of her face. "I'll place a Minus Counter on him so I can attack! Now, Valkyrion, attack and get rid of that disgusting Axe Raider!" The ultimate magnet warrior immediately took to the air and brandished his sword, intending to cut down Axe Raider. The lightning strike hit the warrior and decreased his attack to 2700, but his axe absorbed the blow, shattering soon after and allowing the warrior to land safely on the ground below. Melissa's life points decreased to 6100 as Axe Raider's attack decreased to 2200 and increased back to 2500 since the attack was over.

"If you attack a monster equipped with Earthborn Axe, the Equip Spell is destroyed when the equipped monster is attacked and would be destroyed," Melissa explained, placing her defeated dragon in the graveyard. She sighed and helplessly looked at the powerful warrior standing before her. She knew her Axe Raider wouldn't be able to stand up to that for very much longer, so she hoped for a miracle and drew her next card...

...xXx...

AN: My first attempts at create-a-cards in this story. Hope you like and appreciate them. Once again, feedback on the duel is also very useful. Forgive the jargon used with these. Usually I'm a lot better, but due to the nature of these cards, it was hard to think of the right way to word them.

Chapter 3 – Battle of the Beauties, Part 1 CACs:

Earthborn Axe

Spell/Equip

This card can only be equipped to an EARTH-Attribute, Warrior-Type monster on your side of the field. The equipped monster gains 500 ATK. If the equipped monster attacks one of your opponent's Defense Position monsters, and the equipped monster's ATK is greater than your opponent's monster's DEF, the difference is inflicted as battle damage to your opponent. If the equipped monster would be destroyed as a result of battle, this card is destroyed instead.

Electromagnetic Force Field

Spell/Field

If a player controls a "Magnet" monster, he/she does not take any battle damage from a battle involving a "Magnet" monster. When a "Magnet" monster battles, the monster it battles with loses 300 ATK during damage calculation only. When a monster is Summoned, its controller must place either a Plus Counter or a Minus Counter on that monster. A player must pay 500 LP to attack a monster that has the same kind of counter on it as the attacking monster. When this card is removed from the field, remove all Plus Counters and Minus Counters from the field. ("Valkyrion the Magna Warrior" counts as a "Magnet" monster)

Electromagnetic Pulse

Spell/Continuous

If you do not control any monsters, you may Special Summon one "Magnet" monster from your hand. This effect can only be used once per turn.

Like Charges Repel

Trap/Counter

This card can only be activated when one of your opponent's monsters with a Plus Counter or Minus Counter attacks a monster you control that has the same kind of counter on it as the attacking monster. Negate the attack and end the current Battle Phase.

Opposite Charges Attract

Trap/Counter

This card can only be activated when your opponent attacks one of your monsters while you control a monster with a Plus Counter or Minus Counter, and your opponent controls a monster, other than the attacking monster, with the opposite kind of counter on it. Negate the attack. Choose a monster your opponent controls that has the opposite kind of counter as the defending monster. That monster must attack your defending monster.


	4. Battle of the Beauties, Pt 2

AN: Melissa vs. Angelina concludes! Will Melissa be able to get out of the jam she is in? Or will Angelina take Yuji for herself and eliminate Melissa from the tournament? You'll just have to find out!

Disclaimer: I do not own _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ or anything related to Kazuki Takahashi's works except for my own original characters and storylines.

...xXx...Chapter 4 – Battle of the Beauties, Part 2...xXx...

Melissa Wheeler was in a tight bind. She and her Axe Warrior, with an attack and defense of 2500 and 1450 due to the equipped Kunai with Chain and Legendary Sword, were staring down a beastly monster. She also had one card facedown. Angelina was in control of the most powerful monster currently in the duel, with her Valkyrion the Magna Warrior in attack mode. She also had her Electromagnetic Force Field and Electromagnetic Pulse face up on the field. Melissa was preparing to draw her third card, while Angelina had no cards left in her hand. Angelina was ahead with all 8000 of her life points, while Melissa was down to 6100.

Melissa reluctantly drew another card and looked at it, not appearing exactly thrilled about her draw. "I'll play this card facedown and summon my Rocket Warrior (ATK 1500; DEF 1300) in attack mode!" Melissa's new warrior was small, wearing armor that vaguely resembled a rocket, as well as a sword and shield in his hands.

"That little thing can't even touch my Valkyrion!" Angelina sneered, "I hope you don't plan on trying to pull a fast one on me!"

"Does it look like I am?" her opponent shot back, "I end my turn."

"I'm glad to see that you're finally giving in and letting me win. We both knew I was going to win from the start, so why even bother dueling me?" Angelina cackled heartily.

Melissa rolled her eyes and wiped at her face. "I still have life points, air head. I'm not going down without a fight."

"Don't insult me, you ugly bitch!" Angelina snarled, her face losing some of its beauty in her intense anger, "I'll bury you for that!" She jerked a card from her deck, looked at it, and began to laugh once again. "It looks like I just drew the instrument of your defeat! I activate the Cursed Rechargeable Sword!" Angelina's card appeared on the field for Melissa and the audience to see, and both were slightly repulsed by the picture and subsequent beam sword that appeared in Valkyrion's hands. It was a beam-like sword, emerging from a basic energy generator, but attached to the bottom of the sword was an evil, organic-appearing device that had pulsing veins that shot into the ground.

Angelina flinched as one of the veins briefly shot into her Duel Disk and drained her life points down to 2000. Melissa looked extremely curious as to why that happened, and her opponent provided an explanation. "My Equip Spell costs me 2000 life points for every monster in my graveyard, but it's well worth it for the benefits my Valkyrion gains. The sword increases my monster's power by half of the total attack points of all of the monsters in my graveyard." The brunette girl brought up her graveyard in front of her, and said, "Alpha had 1400 attack points, Beta had 1700, and Gamma had 1500, for a grand total of 4600, so half of that added to my monster's attack brings him up to..."

"5800..." Melissa groaned.

"That's right," the brunette whispered devilishly, "I said you'd pay for insulting me, and now I'll get the chance! Valkyrion, take down her Rocket Warrior with Cursed Blade Annihilation!" The base immediately shot out a glowing, blue beam sword, and the organic energy gatherer began to pulse with dark energy. The magnet warrior charged forward and sliced a weakened Rocket Warrior, down to 1200 attack points, to bits, reducing Melissa's life points down to 1500, still keeping the match close.

"You see that? Next turn, your life points will be history, and then I'll have my revenge!" Angelina said deviously.

Melissa was beginning to wonder if the girl across from her was completely sane. "Revenge? You try to hit on my best friend, and then I get defensive because of that? What you're doing right now isn't exactly revenge," she stated. Many of the girls watching, as well as Yuji, Kai, and Caroline, all nodded or muttered, "She's right..."

"Don't patronize me!" Angelina screeched, "None of you can even compare to my beauty, so what right do you have to criticize me?"

Melissa quietly drew another card, glanced at it, and played it facedown, saying, "You said you were going to defeat me, so let's see it."

"Fine! I'll draw, and then I'll defeat you!" Angelina shouted maniacally, pulling another card from the top of her deck. As she went to add it to her hand, however, she suddenly lost control of it, and the card slipped into the graveyard. She shot an evil glare at Melissa, who was grinning like a fox, and snarled, "What did you just do?"

"Well, my Drop Off trap allows me to force you to send the card you just drew to the graveyard. You can't use it any more. Sorry," she said slyly.

Angelina growled angrily, but her growls were drowned out by something else, and her face quickly turned to one of horror. The organic energy converter on the Cursed Rechargeable Sword began to pulsate and bloat. Valkyrion dropped it in surprise, and the blob attached to the sword exploded, spraying liquid everywhere. Without power to support it, the sword dissolved into pixels and disappeared. "What just happened?" Angelina shrieked in terror.

"Someone didn't read the fine print of their card, that's what," Melissa stated happily, "If a monster is sent to your graveyard after Cursed Rechargeable Sword is activated, it gets destroyed! And guess what the card was that you sent to the graveyard?"

Angelina reluctantly brought up her graveyard information, and the top card on the graveyard was her second Beta the Magnet Warrior. "Damn it!" she cursed loudly. Melissa noted, with more than a little satisfaction, that many of the boys who had been ogling her opponent before were now ignoring her. What she chose not to notice was the multitude of boys now looking _her _way.

"My sword may be gone, but Valkyrion is still here," Angelina snapped, "so I'll attack your Axe Raider with him!" Valkyrion once again flew up and soared towards Axe Raider, but Melissa was prepared this time.

"I'll activate Mirror Wall!" she exclaimed rather gleefully. Right as Valkyrion reached Dark Blade, a crystalline wall shimmered into existence between the two, and Valkyrion attacked its own reflection, dropping its attack down to a lowly 1750. Axe Raider leapt over the wall and swung down hard on the magnet warrior, even with a lowered attack of 2200, destroying it once and for all. Angelina was so horrified that she didn't notice her life points drop to 1550.

Melissa happily drew another card, saying, "I guess it's my turn since you don't have any other cards to activate. I can't pay the cost of my Mirror Wall, so it's destroyed, but that's not a big deal because I still have my Axe Raider! Attack directly with Draconic Soul Slash!" Axe Raider nodded and swung down hard on Angelina's Duel Disk, knocking her life points down to 0.

Angelina dropped to her knees, not believing what just happened. Melissa deactivated her Duel Disk and walked over to Yuji, snatching her towel that he had been using as a pillow out from behind his head. Ignoring his protests, she walked over to her opponent and looked down at her pityingly. She was still not moving one inch, looking emptily at the deck of the ship. Melissa gently reached down and took her two Star Chips before placing them on her Star Glove and walking back to her friends. Immediately, all of the guys around the pool broke out in raucous cheers and applause, and many began to crowd around Melissa, asking her to go out with them or to get her cell phone number. She was flattered by the attention, but she was getting a little crowded.

"Um…uh…thanks, guys, but I really need to get going…I have something to do right now," Melissa said uneasily, sounding a little like she didn't really want to leave yet. However, she managed to work her way out of the throng of young men surrounding her, leaving them calling out, "Aw man!" and "Can I have your number?" On her way back to her friends, two men briskly walked by her in the other direction, standing out against the pool-going teenagers with their black suits. She looked back in time to see them gathering up Angelina to the point where they about had to drag her away, most likely to a boat to head back home.

Snatching the bag of chips right out of Yuji's hand, Melissa plopped back down on her pool chair and threw her towel over her head.

Yuji waited a few seconds before smirking and muttering, "I might have to take you on right now, seeing as you've started to take off and all.

Melissa yanked the towel back off of her head and snapped, "Not funny, Yuji." She threw his chips back at him while he began to snicker.

As Melissa tried to get back to her sun tanning, a large television screen, several of which were stationed around the boat for announcements, lit up, and a man with an odd hairstyle appeared on the screen. His hair defied gravity and rose up to a pointed pompadour in the front, and the hair in the back came to end at a point as well. "Attention duelists!" he said, sounding very official, "We are thirty minutes away from Duelist Kingdom Island. Please be prepared to exit the ship by then!"

"Darn...I was just getting ready to go swimming, too..." Kai muttered dejectedly.

"And I didn't get to sunbathe thanks to stupid Angelina," Melissa grumbled. Realizing that she wasn't in a very good mood, Yuji and Kai quickly gathered their things and left the pool area to head back to their room.

As they arrived, they noticed the door was open, and there was a young man with his back to them in the room as well. When he heard the noise at the door, he turned around and his face lit up.

"Hey! You guys must be my roommates!" he said excitedly, walking over to the door.

Yuji grinned widely and shook his hand, "Yuji Muto, man, it's nice to meet you!"

Kai also shook his hand and said, "My name is Kai Bakura. It's a pleasure."

The young man's eyes grew big, and he asked in a low voice, "Muto? Bakura? A-Are you guys related to…to…you know…"

Yuji kept his grin plastered on his face and said cheerily, "Yep, that's us!"

The young man just stared at them for a moment and his face broke out in a huge smile. "This is amazing! The name's Jason Worthington! It's an honor to meet the sons of such high caliber duelists!"

Yuji remained upbeat and said, "Well, Jason, let's sit down and get to know each other, shall we?"

…xXx…

Thirty minutes later, the ship pulled in to the docks at Duelist Kingdom Island. The duelists all began to exit the ship and gather in the auditorium built near the docks. Once everyone had arrived, the same pointy-haired man that had made the previous announcement walked onto the stage and said into a microphone, "Attention duelists! May I please welcome in Maximillion Pegasus, the owner of Industrial Illusions, and Seto Kaiba, the CEO of Kaiba Corporation!" All of the duelists clapped raucously as Pegasus and Kaiba appeared on the stage, Pegasus waving to all of the duelists and Kaiba as stoic as usual.

Pegasus took the microphone from the wacky haired man and said, "Welcome, all, to the Duelist Super Tournament! I hope you all had an enjoyable trip over here! Now, the Duelist Super Tournament is set here on Duelist Kingdom Island, where the Duelist Kingdom tournament was held long ago. However, this will be both very similar and vastly different to that tournament. I'll let my associate here explain that." He handed the microphone to Kaiba.

"If any of you know what the Duelist Kingdom tournament was like, you will be in for a shock. This island is outfitted with malls, stores, restaurants, arcades...you name it, it's probably here. We don't expect you to live out in the wild, so there are hotels stationed at the northern, southern, eastern, and western most points on the island for you to stay in. The objective, however, is the same. All of you should have received a glove and two Star Chips, correct?" There was a murmur of assent throughout the crowd. "Alright. Like in the original Duelist Kingdom, you need ten Star Chips to gain access to Pegasus' castle, where the final rounds will be held. In every preliminary duel, you just wager a certain amount of Star Chips, and whoever wins the duel takes the pot. If it is a draw, the Star Chips are returned to their owners. If you are challenged to a duel, you must accept. If you lose all of your Star Chips, you cannot duel anyone to regain them. We will know if and when you lose all of your chips. Two days from now, at sundown, is the time limit for gaining access to the castle. Anyone who arrives after that will not be allowed to participate in the finals."

Pegasus took the microphone once again. "Alright, duelists, do you understand?" There was a murmur of assent, "The tournament will begin in thirty minutes. In just a second, we will direct you to the subway and assign each of you a number. Once you get on the subway, you will begin to see numbers flashing up along the side of the train. The subway will be moving at a slow pace, so when you see your number, get off the train and begin your adventure in Duelist Kingdom. And there's one more warning. There are four eliminators placed somewhere on the island. Their only job is to take your Star Chips, not to advance to the finals. If you encounter one of them, you must wager at least half of your Star Chips. Just remember – not everyone here is a duelist. Some are just here for vacation, so give them a good show!" Everyone in the auditorium got up and began to head towards the nearby subway station.

Slowly, everyone received a lottery number and were settled down on the subway. As soon as all of his friends were seated, Yuji spoke up and said, "Hey, girls, let me introduce you to Jason. He was our roommate on the ship, but he got lost and ended up in the kitchen. That's why he wasn't there to begin with."

Caroline spoke up first and said from her seat next to Kai, "Hello, Jason. I'm Caroline Taylor. It's very nice to meet you." Jason nodded and shook her hand energetically.

Melissa spoke up next, whacking Yuji with her hat in her attempt to get a clear view of Jason, "I'm Melissa Wheeler, Jason. Nice to meet you!" Jason froze when she said her name, his eyes growing large once again.

"And I'm Hikari Kaiba!" Hikari added, giving Jason a warm smile. However, it went unnoticed, as Jason was just gaping at the two of them in shock for a moment before turning to his roommates.

"You didn't tell me your girlfriends were the daughters of Joey Wheeler and Seto Kaiba?" he exclaimed in excitement. Yuji quickly looked like someone slapped him, Kai mostly ignored the comment and wrapped an arm around Caroline, who responded most in the same way as her boyfriend, Hikari just blushed, and Melissa's eyes narrowed as she glared at the newcomer. Jason's excited look quickly faded away as he viewed the reactions of the women around him. "…did I say something wrong?"

"No, no, it's alright," Yuji quickly said, shaking his head to clear anything his imagination had come up with, "You see, Kai's girlfriend is Caroline over there, and neither Hikari or Melissa are my girlfriend…" he trailed off, sneaking a look at the two girls, who still had the same reactions from before.

Just then, to save all of them from any further discussion, the voice of the pompadour man came on over the intercom, "Attention duelists! Shortly, the numbers for departure will be appearing. When you see your number outside the train, please carefully depart the train and climb the stairs by the number."

"Hey guys, what are your numbers?" Caroline asked, pulling out her slip, which read 26. Yuji flashed a 78, Kai's was a 44, and Jason showed a 100. Hikari, snapping out of her trance, hurriedly found hers, which was a 1. Melissa quickly flashed hers, which was an 89, before cramming it back into her bag.

All of the kids kept their eyes peeled as the first of the duelists began hopping out. Soon enough, the number 89 appeared, and Melissa smirked confidently. She grabbed her bag and Duel Disk, shouted a quick goodbye, and soon disappeared into her corridor. A few seconds later, a bright 26 appeared, and Caroline left the group after a good luck kiss from Kai. The next numbers appeared together 4 minutes later in the forms of 1 and 44. Kai and Yuji shared a fist pound before the two left the train. Many more duelists left the train, but the elusive 78 and 100 did not appear until Yuji and Jason were the only two duelists left on the train.

"Alright, I guess we'll be near each other once we get to the surface, so you want to travel together until we can find some of the others?" Yuji asked.

Jason nodded, his happy expression showing a little nervousness. Yuji grinned at him and said, "Don't worry about it. We're going to take this tournament by storm!" Jason nodded again, and the two headed for their own tunnels and whatever the surface had in store for them.

…xXx…

Kai began to see some light at the end of his tunnel and felt a little relieved until he saw what the light source was. The tunnel came to a dead end at a set of stairs that didn't have an obvious exit. Sighing, he began to climb up them.

When he reached the fourth landing, he noticed a door that could possibly be an exit. At that point, he didn't plan on trying to see if it was open, since the last three had not been, but he noticed a sign on the door with his number, 44, on it. Looking around and not seeing anything else, he grabbed the piece of paper and inspected it. On the back, there was a message.

_Number 44,_

_We wish you all the best in the tournament. Past this door is where your adventure begins!_

_Seto Kaiba and Maximillion Pegasus_

Kai, appreciating the gesture, carefully folded up the paper and placed it in his back pocket before opening the door. He slowly walked out and took in the scenery, which was that of a bustling marketplace. Just then, his stomach growled very loudly, attracting the attention of a group of girls who giggled as they walked by him. Kai grimaced and looked around for a place to get a bite to eat. Luckily, a Burger World was located just a short walk away, so Kai made for the burger place.

"Pegasus wasn't kidding when he said everything we needed was here," Kai muttered to himself. There wasn't a bad line at Burger World, so he quickly got a burger, fries, and drink and sat down at one of the tables in the marketplace. He took off his Duel Disk and placed it in the seat next to him so he could eat easier.

Just as he took a large bite out of his burger, a shadow crossed his line of vision, and he looked up to see a nervous boy standing next to him, holding a tray with his own burger meal. "Um…is it alright if I sit here?" he asked quietly. He was a tall young man, with a short crop of brown hair, glasses, a black t-shirt, and cargo shorts. A Duel Disk adorned his left wrist.

"Sure, go right on ahead!" Kai said happily before taking another large bite of his burger. The young man carefully sat down and hid his left arm under the table before starting to eat with just his right hand, something Kai quickly picked up on. First, though, he said, "I'm Kai Bakura. What's your name?

"I-I'm Tim Brown," the young man replied, extending his right hand to shake Kai's hand.

Kai observed Tim eating with just his right hand for a little bit and then asked, "How come you are hiding your Duel Disk, Tim? Aren't you a part of the tournament?"

Tim immediately reached across the table and clamped a hand over Kai's mouth, worriedly muttering, "Please don't let anyone know I'm in the tournament! Please!"

Kai mumbled something that was muffled by Tim's hand. Tim looked around nervously and slowly removed his hand. Kai slowly said, "Tim, why don't you want to duel? This whole tournament is for dueling, and you were good enough to get an invitation to it."

Tim gave another cursory glance around the marketplace and whispered, "I'm afraid of losing! My mom and sisters are back home, waiting for me to win. We need money. Ever since my dad died, we have been struggling to stay afloat. I just want to win this tournament."

"Tim, you can't win the tournament without Star Chips, and the only way you'll get Star Chips is by winning duels," Kai said softly. Tim didn't respond but went back to his seat and gnawed on his burger some more. Kai looked at him and made a decision.

"Tim." The young man across from him looked up in surprise, and his eyes widened as he saw Kai pick up his Duel Disk from the seat next to him. "I have an idea. Let's duel. I want to get your confidence to a new level. I don't want to bet any Star Chips, but I want to have your word that you will give me all you've got!"

Tim looked at him like he was crazy for a moment, but then he allowed a smile to grace his face. He said, "Thank you, Kai. This is just what I needed to get my confidence back in line." He stopped there and appeared to be deep in thought.

Kai quickly noticed this and asked, "What's wrong?"

Tim looked at Kai across the table and gave the blue-haired teenager the first true smile he had seen. "Can we finish eating?"

Kai busted out laughing and replied, "I was hoping you'd say that!" He set his Duel Disk aside again and dug into his burger with gusto, enjoying his meal with his new friend.

...xXx...

AN: I really hope no one wanted Angelina to win. I would be very disappointed. I seem to have a real issue with plot, but the duels seem just fine. Let's see if anyone catches the YGOTAS reference. It's pretty obvious, if you know what you're looking for. Hope you enjoy, and don't forget to review!

Chapter 4 – Battle of the Beauties, Part 2 CACs

Cursed Rechargeable Sword

Spell/Equip

When you activate this card, you must pay 2000 LP for every monster in your graveyard. The equipped monster gains ATK equal to half the total ATK of all of the monsters in your graveyard. If a monster is sent to your graveyard after this card is activated, destroy this card.


	5. Rise of the Beasts!

AN: I've been on a roll lately. Hopefully that continues. What kind of decks will Tim and Kai break out? And what of the others? Well, you're about to find out!

…xXx…Chapter 5 – Rise of the Beasts!…xXx…

Yuji exited the corridor he was in and took a moment to take a deep breath and observe his surroundings. He was in the middle of a forest, and he had just left the subway terminal.

"Hey, Yuji! Over here!" a voice called out from nearby. Yuji looked around and didn't see anyone except someone coming out of a public bathroom…until he noticed that the person was actually Jason.

"Jason, why were you in a bathroom?" Yuji asked curiously as his friend came over to meet him.

"My corridor ended up coming out on the other side of the bathroom in a house. The sign outside it said it was a rest house, but there was no one in it," Jason explained, "I was in the bathroom because I really needed to go, and it was close."

"Oh, that's good. I thought your corridor led to the bathroom," Yuji said, starting to laugh. Jason joined in, both thinking that Pegasus would never do such a thing.

…xXx…

Melissa exited the staircase from her assigned corridor and looked around expectantly, obviously looking to see what kinds of designer stores Pegasus had brought to the island. Instead she was greeted with a row of toilets and a line of sinks mounted to a wall.

"AAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!"

…xXx…

Kai and Tim were done with their burgers and were now standing in the middle of the marketplace. A lot of the people nearby saw what was going on and came over to watch the duel.

"Alright, Tim. Are you ready?" Kai asked excitedly. Tim nodded, still looking a little nervous. "Alright, let's do this!" Both duelists shifted their Duel Disks into battle position, and the Dueling coin appeared on the field. "Tim, you take the call!"

Tim looked surprised and said, "Oh, alright! I'll call Heads!" The coin flipped into the air, spun around a few times, and landed…on heads! Tim's face lit up, and he said happily, "Alright, I'll go ahead and go first. Let's duel!" Both duelists drew five cards, and Tim drew his sixth as the duel officially began.

Tim looked over his hand and pulled out two cards. "I'll Set one monster facedown, and play another card facedown. I'll also activate Yellow Luster Shield!" Kai activated his Continuous Spell Card, which brought forth a yellow shield that surrounded his side of the field. Tim smiled and said, "That's all for now. Your move, Kai!"

"My pleasure!" Kai replied, drawing his own sixth card. He inspected his hand and shouted, "I Summon Zolga (ATK 1700/DEF 1200) in Attack Mode!" Kai's monster appeared on his side of the field, sporting a metallic-looking headpiece and shoulder armor and a cape covering the rest of its body. Kai selected three other cards from his hand and said, "I'll place these three cards facedown and attack your facedown monster with Zolga!" Kai's fairy appeared to charge up a beam at its eye-like structure before it fired at Tim's facedown monster, which flipped over to reveal a kangaroo wearing boxing gloves. The kangaroo punched the beat of light, which turned around and headed back towards Zolga, destroying it. Kai's life points dropped slightly down to 7700.

"How do you like my Des Kangaroo (ATK 1500/DEF 1700)?" Tim asked, "If the attack of your monster is less than the defense of my Defense Position Des Kangaroo, then your monster is destroyed! And since my Yellow Luster Shield raises the defense of all of my monsters by 300, Des Kangaroo's defense was just high enough to beat your Zolga's attack!"

Kai nodded approvingly. "Excellent play, Tim. This is just what I was hoping would happen. All I want is to have a fun duel!"

Tim grinned widely, "And I think I'm enjoying myself thoroughly! Are you done with your turn?"

"No, I'll use Premature Burial to bring back by Zolga!," Kai replied. Zolga burst out from under the ground as Kai's LP shrank to 6900, "Now I end my turn."

"Okay, my turn! I draw!" Tim said confidently, drawing another card and bringing his hand up to four cards. He looked briefly at Zolga and thought, 'I bet Kai is planning something or else he wouldn't have brought back that monster. I need to be careful.' Briefly looking at his hand, he selected a card and played it. "I activate my Dark Core. By discarding one card from my hand, I can remove one of your monsters from the game, and since you only have one monster on your side of the field, I'll remove Zolga from the game!" As Tim sent one of his cards in his hand to the graveyard, a large black hole opened up in the middle of where Zolga's chest should be and sucked it in. Premature Burial shattered as well once Zolga was gone from the field.

"Good play, Tim!" Kai said, even as he placed his fairy into the removed from play slot on the bottom of his Duel Disk.

"Thanks! I'll also set one other monster facedown and end my turn," Tim said, as another facedown monster appeared on his field. That wasn't Tim's last play, though, as he added, "I'm not completely done yet. Since my Manticore of Darkness (ATK 2300/DEF 1000) was sent to the graveyard this turn, I can send a Beast-Type monster, like my Big Koala (ATK 2700/DEF 2000), to the graveyard and revive my Manticore!" Tim took the last card in his hand and placed it into his graveyard as a large hole opened on the ground, where a large monster clawed its way back to the surface and gave a screeching roar as it came up. It had the head and hairless body of a lion, dark crow's wings, and the tail of a scorpion.

"Well, you've certainly put me into a tough position here, Tim!" Kai said excitedly, "It's my turn, and before I draw, I'll activate Solemn Wishes!" The middle of Kai's facedown cards flipped up, and an angel cupping her hands appeared behind Kai. "This card lets me gain 500 LP every time I draw a card. Now, when I draw, I gain 500 LP!" The top card of Kai's deck appeared in the angel's hands, and a shower of light rained on Kai's Duel Disk, raising his LP up to 7400 before the second card of his hand appeared.

"Now, I'll Summon Mudora (ATK 1500/DEF 1800) and equip it with Cestus of Dagla!" Kai shouted, as a muscled warrior appeared on the field, with golden armor covering its shoulders and a helmet styled in the form of a face. It held a curved sword in its left hand. Kai's Equip Spell Card appeared next, with brass knuckle-like devices appearing on Mudora's fists even as its attack rose briefly to 1700 and then to 2200.

"Impressive! Mind explaining what you just did?" Tim said, appraising the warrior now standing in from of him.

Kai grinned. "No problem! Mudora gains 200 ATK for each Fairy in my graveyard, and Cestus of Dagla brings that up by 500 more, putting it at a fierce 2200 attack points! Now, attack Des Kangaroo! Cestus Rush!" Mudora charged forward in an amazing feat of speed and sliced through the Yellow Luster Shield and Des Kangaroo, who couldn't stand up to the attack and was destroyed.

"That's all for now!" Kai said.

Tim drew one card to give himself a hand once more. Seeing nothing that he wanted to use, Tim shouted, "Manticore of Darkness, attack Mudora! Hellfire Shockwave!" The mouth of Tim's chimera began to leak fire, and it released a wave of flames that headed straight for Mudora, but Kai would have none of that.

"I activate Draining Shield!" He exclaimed, revealing his left hand facedown card. A large silver shield appeared in Mudora's hands, and the flames hit the shield and were promptly absorbed into it, raising Kai's life points even further to 9700.

"Wow, Kai, your deck is amazing!" Tim said in amazement, "Mine's nothing compared to yours!"

"Don't say that! Your deck is pretty good too! You just need to have more confidence in yourself!" Kai replied, "Are you feeling better now?"

"Oh yeah! I'll go ahead and end my turn!" Tim replied, "Your move, Kai!"

"Alright, my draw!" Kai exclaimed, bringing his hand to two and his life points to 10200. He inspected his choices and shouted, "Mudora, attack his facedown monster with Cestus Rush!" Mudora nodded obediently and charged forward towards the yet unrevealed monster, which flipped over and revealed the image of the spectral beast, Soul Tiger (ATK 0/DEF 2100). Tim's Yellow Luster Shield glowed briefly, and Soul Tiger's DEF rose more to 2400. Unlike with its previous attack, Mudora struck the shield and was unable to penetrate it as Kai's LP decreased down slightly to 10000.

Kai, looking a little dejected, said, "I'll set one card facedown. That's all for me. Your move." A facedown card appeared behind Mudora, and Kai was left with nothing in his hand.

"Alright, I draw!" Tim said, taking another card from his deck. Looking at it, he grinned and said, "I activate Card of Sanctity, which refreshes both of our hands. I'll get five cards, and you'll get four, so we'll both have six cards in our hands!"

Kai nodded approvingly as he got to draw cards into his hand, raising his life points up to 10500, and then exclaimed, "I'll Special Summon Watapon (ATK 200/DEF 300) in Defense Position by his effect, which allows him to be Special Summoned if he is added from my deck to my hand by any effect." Next to Kai's warrior fairy, a small, light pink fur ball with large blue eyes and two springy antennae appeared, bouncing around on top of its card.

Tim looked over his own regenerated hand and grinned. "I don't think that matters very much! I'll summon Enraged Battle Ox (ATK 1700/DEF 1000) in Attack Position!" A large, angry minotaur, decked out with body armor and an axe, stormed onto the field, snorting loudly and looking anxious to fight.

"Now things get heated! I'll activate the magic of Hierarchy of Beasts!" Tim shouted, activating a Spell Card from his hand. The picture on it was one of two lower beasts kneeling in front of a picture of a grand beast. "This is a special Spell Card that only works on Beast-Type monsters. If there are Fusion Material monsters in my graveyard for a Fusion Monster in my Extra Deck, I can remove them and one monster on my side of the field from play to Special Summon that monster. So, I'll remove my Big Koala and Des Kangaroo from the graveyard and my Soul Tiger on the field from play and Special Summon my Master of Oz (ATK 4200/DEF 3700)!" Ghostly images of both Big Koala and Des Kangaroo appeared next to Soul Tiger and quickly vaporized as a whirlwind kicked up. Kai had to shield his eyes from the torrent around him.

When the wind cleared, an absolutely titanic monster appeared on the field. It had the body build of a green koala but the boxing gloves, vest, and shoes of Des Kangaroo. Even the large Manticore only came up to its thighs in height.

Tim selected another card and smirked. "That's not all. I activate Wild Nature's Release, and I'll use its effect on my Master of Oz!" The large koala, initially devoid of movement, immediately pounded its chest and let out an earth-shattering roar, producing a shockwave that swept across the land. Kai could only watch as its attack shot up to 7900.

"That's…a very strong koala…" Kai muttered helplessly.

"Yeah, he is, but I'm not attacking with him yet. I'll take out your Watapon with my Enraged Battle Ox! Furious Axe Slam Attack!" The furious ox charged forward and wildly swung, chopping up the tiny puffball fairy. Due to Enraged Battle Ox's effect, Kai still lost life points, bringing him down to 9100. However, with another fairy in the graveyard, Mudora's attack increased by another 200 to reach 2400 by its effect.

"Now I'll dispose of Mudora with my Master of Oz! Attack with Thunder Down Under!" The large koala reared back and swung down with a mighty punch, completely obliterating Kai's fairy. His life points decreased even more to 3600.

"Okay, Manticore, finish it up with Hellfire Shockwave!" Tim's chimera complied and shot out a wave of flames from hell, burning Kai and bringing his life points down to a low 1300.

"That's all I've got for now in terms of attacking, but I've got one more play before I hand it over to you," Tim said as a card ejected from the discard pile. He took it and showed it to Kai, revealing another Manticore of Darkness. "I'll send my Master of Oz to the graveyard, and now I get to bring back my second Manticore to the field!" A flaming hole opened up in the ground, and another chimera appeared on the field next to its brother. Tim examined the field and nodded with satisfaction. "That's all for now. Let's see what you can do, Kai!"

Kai put on a brave face, but the reality was that he didn't have much he could do. 'He's got me in a right predicament. I can only hope that my strategy is going to give me something to defeat him.' He drew another card, giving him a full hand of six and raising his life points back up to 1800. 'Archlord Zerato won't do me much good on its own…unless…' He saw his Charm of Lamentation card in his hand, 'That's it! This might work!'

Kai set a card facedown and shouted, "Alright, Tim, let's go to the most sacred of all Duel Monsters locales. I activate The Sanctuary in the Sky!" Clouds began to form around the two duelists, and a large temple formed behind Kai, made of an exquisite white marble. "It's not much, but a player battling with a Fairy-Type monster takes no battle damage. I'll also activate Charm of Lamentation!" A golden necklace appeared around Kai's neck.

"What's that doing?" Tim asked curiously.

"Don't worry about that for now. It'll show its ability in a moment. However, for now, I'll summon my Shining Angel (ATK 1400/DEF 800) in attack position!" A man dressed in a simple toga appeared on the field, with gold bands on his arms and four golden wings sprouting from his back.

"I'll attack your Enraged Battle Ox with Shining Angel! Shining Wave!" Kai said, surprising pretty much everyone else present. However, Shining Angel nodded, understanding what Kai was planning, and shot a wave of pure energy at the angry minotaur, who effortlessly slashed it away and charged forward to slice Shining Angel in half.

"I don't lose any life points due to The Sanctuary in the Sky," Kai explained. "Now, a few things are going to happen. First, my Shining Angel's effect kicks in, so I'll Special Summon a LIGHT-Attribute monster with an attack of 1500 or less, and another Shining Angel will do for that." An identical copy of the previous Shining Angel appeared on the field. "Next, my Charm of Lamentation activates. Since I attacked with a monster, and it failed to destroy its target, I can draw a card, which I'll do now." He drew another card into his hand, and the Solemn Wishes fairy sprinkled more light onto him, raising his life points up to 2300.

Understanding dawned on Tim's face. "And now you'll do it two more times…"

"Oh yeah! Shining Angel, attack!" Kai shouted. His fairy complied, but the end result was the same, as Enraged Battle Ox sliced and diced his monster to shreds. "And now I'll bring out my third Shining Angel…" Another winged man appeared on the field, and the charm around Kai's neck shined. "My Charm of Lamentation kicks in, so I'll draw a card, and I'll get some more life points." He drew one more card, and his life points boosted to 2800.

"And now we'll do this one more time. Shining Angel, you know what to do." His fairy nodded and sent a wave of pure energy at Enraged Battle Ox, who by now was not happy at having to destroy the same monster repeatedly. The minotaur struck back and destroyed Kai's final Shining Angel.

"I'm sorry, guys, but I have a plan, and you won't have died for nothing," Kai murmured, "I'll Special Summon The Forgiving Maiden (ATK 850/DEF 2000)." Kai's next monster was a young woman who was dressed like a nun, crying as she held a rosary in her hands. "Now, I'll use my Charm of Lamentation for the last time to draw a card and to replenish my life points." He drew one more card, and his life points rose to 3300.

Kai now held six cards in his hand once more. "After my Battle Phase, I can do a little more that I have some more cards. I'll set two cards facedown and activate the effect of a monster in my hand…Soul of Purity and Light (ATK 2000/DEF 1800)!"

Tim nodded, recalling the effect of that particular monster. "The only way you can call it out is by removing two of your LIGHT-Attribute monsters in your graveyard from play. That's why you cycled through all of your Shining Angels."

"That's right, Tim!" Kai exclaimed, "And I'll do just that. Come forth, Soul of Purity and Light!" The images of two Shining Angels briefly appeared on the field before turning into two balls of light that combined together to form a translucent fairy wearing a sleeveless white dress. Unlike any of the other monsters on the field, she flew and settled down behind Kai, draping her arms around him. Kai felt warmness profuse through him, and he knew that he had a good chance of winning the duel.

"I'm not quite done yet. To finish my turn, I'll activate my Silver Bow and Arrow and equip it to my Soul of Purity and Light!" The translucent angel departed from its position and settled down next to The Forgiving Maiden, and a purple bow appeared in its hands, with an arrow held loosely there. Its attack and defense rose to 2300 and 2100, respectively. "That's all for me. Let's see if I can withstand whatever you can throw at me, Tim!" Kai said happily.

'Kai's really put me into a bind here. I didn't think my Card of Sanctity would give him this much to work with…' Tim thought, drawing his next card. He looked at Kai's full backfield and thought, 'That worries me. Who knows what he could be hiding back there. Oh, well, here goes nothing.'

"Alright, Manticore number 1, attack The Forgiving Maiden. Hellfire Shockwave!" His left-hand chimera charged up an attack, even with his attack decreased to 2000 by the effect of Soul of Purity and Light, and a wave of flames sped towards The Forgiving Maiden. However, Kai had a plan in place for just that.

"I'll activate Staunch Defender!" he cried out, revealing one of his facedown cards. To Tim's surprise, the attack never reached The Forgiving Maiden, instead rerouting towards Soul of Purity and Light, and his other Manticore and Enraged Battle Ox, with decreased attacks of 2000 and 1400 respectively, also let loose with their attacks.

"You know what this means, right? I can force all of your face up monsters into attacking a card of my choosing, and the one I chose is Soul of Purity and Light!" The two hellfire attacks simply dispersed, and Enraged Battle Ox's swing was blocked and caused its ax to be shattered, along with the monster. The two Manticores couldn't handle the light and also shattered. Tim winced as his life points decreased to 6200.

He took three cards from his hand and said, "I'll set one card facedown, play a monster facedown, and send my Super War-Lion (ATK 2300/DEF 2100) to the graveyard to bring back one of my Manticores in attack position. Your move."

Kai drew another card, eyeing the one that Tim had played facedown. 'That monster must have some kind of effect if Tim didn't want to spend it to get back his Manticore. I'll need to be careful.' He looked at the card he drew and shrugged. "I'll Summon Shining Abyss (ATK 1600/DEF 1800) in defense position!" A robotic-looking fairy appeared on the field, with a bulbous body and two golden wings on its back. It folded its wings around it as it rested on its card. "Next, I'll attack your Enraged Battle Ox with my Soul of Purity and Light! Pure Light Burst!" The translucent angel smiled and shined extremely bright. The minotaur couldn't take it and shattered, as Tim's life points shot down to 5600.

Kai thought, 'I'm worried about that facedown monster, so I'm not going to do anything with it,' then he said, "I'll set one card facedown and stop for now. I don't really have anything else I can do anyways," Kai said.

"Alright, then it's my move!" Tim exclaimed, drawing a new card. He briefly looked at it before moving to his field. "I'll flip my Des Koala (ATK 1100/DEF 1800) face up, and he inflicts 400 points of damage to you for each card in your hand, so you get hit with just that – 400 points!" The somewhat overlarge koala that appeared on the field took some of the shoots stored in its pouch and threw them at Kai. The shoots acted like darts, and Kai flinched as they hit him, and his life points decreased to 2900.

Tim started to chuckle, and Kai raised an eyebrow in question. Tim said, "You know, Kai, you should've attacked my Manticore last turn. You wouldn't have had to deal with my Des Koala otherwise. Now, I'll sacrifice my Des Koala to summon my Firewing Pegasus (ATK 2250/DEF 1800)!" The cute marsupial disappeared in a blaze as a new monster took the field in the form of a blue horse with a mane and wings like fire.

"Next, I'll activate Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your Silver Bow and Arrow!" he exclaimed. A small tornado, but fast growing, appeared around the archery set that Soul of Purity and Light was carrying, but Kai had an answer.

"I'll activate Emergency Provisions and send Silver Bow and Arrow to the graveyard to render your Mystical Space Typhoon useless and to gain 1000 life points!" Indeed, Kai's life points shot up to 4300, making the duel rather close.

Tim shrugged. "No big deal. The point still remains that it's gone, so I'll attack your Soul with my Manticore! Hellfire Shockwave!" Once more, a wave of cursed flames leapt in waves toward the translucent fairy, but Kai smirked and pushed a button on his Duel Disk.

"I activate Negate Attack and stop the attack!" Right as they reached Soul of Purity and Light, the flames were sucked up into vortexes and disappeared.

Tim frowned and said, "Darn. Well, that's all I can do."

"Then it's my turn! I draw!" Kai looked at the card and grinned as his life points rose to 4800. "Now I'll play Pot of Greed and draw two more cards and get some more life points!" His life points rose to 5300, putting him just below Tim, and the cards in his hand made him grin widely.

He chose one and said, "I'm summoning my Warrior of Zera (ATK 1600/DEF 1600) in attack position!" Surprisingly, a warrior appeared on the field, with a green helmet, shoulder pads, and gauntlets, blue pants, and a red scarf. He brandished a large sword as he looked at Tim's monsters.

"A Warrior? Isn't that an odd choice for your deck?" Tim asked confusedly.

"Not quite. You see, I've had a monster in my hand for quite awhile, and I've needed this guy to get him onto the field," Kai explained, taking one of his remaining cards and showing it to Tim, "I sacrifice Warrior of Zera so I can Special Summon my…Archlord Zerato (ATK 2800/DEF 2300)!" The clouds from The Sanctuary in the Sky began to surround the warrior, and light began to pour out as the outline of Warrior of Zera began to change. After a few moments, the clouds began to disperse, and Warrior of Zera had transformed into a winged angel who now looked down at Tim's monsters from atop the sanctuary.

"There's one more thing that Zerato can do. I'll send my Spirit of the Harp (ATK 800/DEF 2000) in my hand to the graveyard to activate his effect…which destroys all of your face up monsters!" Zerato held his sword up to the sky, and a lightning bolt shot out of it and slammed into both of Tim's monsters, obliterating them instantly.

Tim chuckled as he realized what was about to happen, and he said, "Well, I guess this is it. Thanks so much for the great duel!"

Kai grinned right back, and he said, "Same here. I'll switch Shining Abyss to attack position, and I'll attack you directly with my three monsters!" Archlord Zerato, Soul of Purity and Light, and Shining Abyss charged up a combined sphere of light between them and fired it at Tim, who closed his eyes as the attack consumed him in a burst of light that reduced his life points to 0.

Both duelists deactivated their Duel Disks, and Tim walked over to Kai, disappointment on his face but still sporting a smile. He pulled out one of his Star Chips from his glove and handed it to his opponent, saying, "Well, Kai, here's a Star Chip for you. I guess I'm going to have to start over, but thanks to you, I feel a lot more confident!"

Kai smiled as he put his third Star Chip into his glove and said, "Well, if I helped at all, I guess that's good! Are you going to go on your way?"

Tim nodded. "Yeah, I'll see if I can find some good challengers to battle."

"Well, hopefully I'll see you in the finals! Good luck!" Kai said. They shook hands and went in separate directions, as the crowd around them dispersed to go back to their duties.

As Kai walked out of the marketplace to who knows where, he thought, 'I wonder how Caroline is doing right now…'

…xXx…

Caroline exited from her corridor after almost three minutes of walking. However, her reward was beyond her wildest dreams, as her corridor was the emergency exit for the subway station that was in the mall on the island.

She looked around in awe, and all she could say was, "Oh…my…God…Kai and Yuji were right…I love Pegasus!" She looked around at the stores currently surrounding her, and one caught her eye, a clothing store that she and her mother had thoroughly enjoyed when they had been on a road trip a year ago. Remembering the mass amounts of clothes the two had come away with, she immediately made a beeline for that store.

Once inside, she immediately began to grab clothes at a startling pace. Within a few seconds, she had a respectable pile in her hands, and she made for the dressing rooms to try on some of the things she had found. She quickly picked out a light yellow sundress, put it on, and went out into the hallway to check herself out in the large mirror out there.

When she stepped out of her room, she noticed that she wasn't alone. Another girl was also looking at herself in the mirror. She was wearing an ankle length blue dress with a silver dragon running up one side. Her black hair was held in a messy bun by two chopsticks. Caroline couldn't help but mutter, "Wow…she looks amazing."

The girl heard her and looked over, gaining an awed expression of her own. "Did you mean me? Thank you so much! You look great, too! I really like the color of that dress!"

Caroline's face grew red with embarrassment, and she replied, "Yeah…I was wondering what my boyfriend would think of it. I think he'll like it."

The mystery girl grinned and exclaimed, "Girl, I think he'd like you in anything!"

"Thanks…that means a lot," Caroline said, laughing a little, "I'm Caroline, by the way. Caroline Taylor."

The mystery girl walked over and stuck out her hand, which Caroline immediately shook. "I'm Umi Tsunami, heir to the mighty Mako Tsunami!"

Caroline's eyes widened in surprise, and she asked, "Mako Tsunami? Are you his daughter?"

"Sure am!" Umi replied happily, "He taught me everything there is to know about the ocean, including the secrets to his unbeatable Water dueling technique!"

"Dueling technique?" Caroline asked, "Does that mean you're a duelist in the tournament?"

Now it was Umi's turn for her eyes to widen, and she replied excitedly, "That's right! Are you a part of it, too?" Caroline nodded happily, and Umi cracked a large grin. "That's awesome. We have to have a duel together for fun! Are you game?"

"Sure!" Caroline responded happily at first, but then she began to look a little nervous.

Umi noticed and asked, "What's wrong?"

Caroline, embarrassed, asked sheepishly, "Could I finish shopping first?"

Umi looked at her for a moment and then giggled, saying, "I like how you think, Caroline!"

…xXx…

AN: Alright, I'm keeping up the pace relatively well. Hopefully I can continue to do that.

Yu-Gi-Oh Legends CACs – Chapter 5:

Hierarchy of Beasts  
Spell Card  
Remove from play Fusion Material Monsters in your graveyard that are listed as Fusion Material Monsters on a Fusion Monster in your Extra Deck, as well as a monster on your side of the field. Special Summon the Fusion Monster to your side of the field (This counts as a Fusion Summon).


	6. Wind vs Water

AN: Okay, now we get into the nitty gritty of the Duelist Kingdom Super Tournament. What deck will Caroline pull out to use against the inevitable Water deck of Umi Tsunami?

…xXx…Chapter 6 – Wind vs. Water…xXx…

Caroline and Umi were now done shopping, and they had moved from inside the store to inside the mall. They had found an unfortunate guard to carry their purchases back to the boat so they didn't have to carry them around, which had amused Caroline to no end.

"Alright, Caroline, are you ready to duel?" Umi asked as she pulled out her deck from a belt holder.

"Oh, yeah, I'm always ready!" Caroline exclaimed happily, "Let's do this! How many Star Chips do you want to wager?"

Umi held up her hand, where her Star Glove showed four chips. Caroline was amazed by this and asked, "Have you already dueled someone? That was fast!"

Her opponent looked, to Caroline's confusion, disgusted as she said, "Yeah. Some pervert decided to keep hitting on me when we got off the boat, and unfortunately, his ticket put him right near me, so I dueled him to shut him up and to get him off of the island. You can probably imagine it didn't take all that long." She soon rid herself of the negative look on her face, and a smile was soon back in place. "Let's just bet one Star Chip. I don't really think eliminating someone is all that nice unless they're really bugging me. Does that work?"

Caroline nodded. "Works for me!" She activated her Disk, inserted her deck, as did Umi, and the coin appeared between the two duelists.

"I'll make the call! Let's go with tails!" Umi exclaimed. The coin immediately flipped into the air and came down to reveal…tails! The water duelist clutched her fist in victory and drew her opening hand, as did Caroline, and then drew one more to begin the duel.

Umi examined her opening hand, and selected one card and played it. "I'll summon my mighty Great White (ATK 1600/DEF 800) in attack position!" A large great white shark appeared on the field, with clawed arms extended from its fins. "Next, I'll set one card facedown and end my turn."

Caroline drew a card, bringing her own hand to six. Looking over her options, she selected one card and said, "I'll set this monster facedown, as well as two other cards facedown, and that will do it for me."

"Seems like both of us are on the defensive," Umi commented, "However, that won't last for long because..." she drew her next card and liked what she saw, "I'm about to bust this duel wide open. I'll activate the magic of Umi!" On her Duel Disk, the Field Spell slot popped open, and Umi played her namesake card, as the two duelists were soon surrounded by shin deep water. Great White, whose stats shot up to 1800/1000, quickly disappeared under the water, and the only evidence of it being there was a circling shadow in front of Umi the duelist.

"Umi played Umi? Nice!" Caroline said, chuckling a little.

"Why thank you!" her opponent replied, beaming proudly, "I think my father named me that for that exact same reason. But enough about that. I'll attack your monster with my Great White! Destroy her facedown monster with Deep Sea Terror!" The shadow in front of Umi suddenly began to move, and before Caroline knew it, the shark man had bit her facedown monster, a feathered bird man, in half.

Caroline smirked as she placed her defeated monster in her graveyard. "That was my Birdface (ATK 1600/DEF 1600), and he's got a special effect that's going to help me out big time! When he's destroyed in battle, I can get a very specific monster and add it from my deck to my hand, and that monster is my Harpie Lady (ATK 1300/DEF 1400)!" She quickly leafed through her deck, found the monster she wanted, and shuffled her deck before adding the card to the rest of her hand.****

"Okay, that's all for me. It's your move, Caroline!" Umi said as her shark swam back to her side of the field.

Caroline nodded and drew her next card. She added it to her hand and selected another one, saying, "I'll Summon my Harpie Lady in attack position!" A red haired lady with winged arms and large talons appeared on her side of the field with a loud screech.

However, Umi wasn't impressed, and she made sure to voice that. "No offense, but she doesn't stand a chance against my Great White."

"Oh, really?" Caroline said slyly, "I'm not done yet! I activate the magic of Elegant Egotist, which lets me Special Summon a Harpie Lady or Harpie Lady Sisters (ATK 1950/DEF 2100) from my hand or deck, and I'll Special Summon my Harpie Lady Sisters from my hand!" Next to the existing Harpie Lady on the field, three more feathered ladies appeared, with similar builds but different facial features. Caroline took the last card in her hand and played it. "Finally, I'll activate Follow Wind, which I can equip to a Winged-Beast monster to boost their stats, and I'll give it to my Harpie Lady Sisters!" A small draft blew around the sisters, and their attack and defense shot up to 2250 and 2400, respectively.

"Now, my sisters, attack Great White! Triangle Ecstasy Spark!" Caroline exclaimed. The three Harpies formed a triangle, creating a fiery blast in between them that grew in size and shot towards the shadow in the water, completely obliterating the shark man and bringing her opponent's life points down to 7550.

"Urgh...sorry, Great White," Umi murmured as she placed her card in the graveyard.

"Next up is my Harpie Lady! Scratch Clash!" The lone Harpie left on the field took to the sky and flew directly at Umi, slashing Umi's midsection rather hard and bringing her life points down even further to 6250. Umi winced and tenderly felt her stomach after the attack.

"That's all I can do for now, so it's your move!" Caroline said happily, as her four Harpies screeched in agreement.****

Umi swiftly drew another card, bringing her hand up to five cards. Her Umi Field Spell Card was still flooding the field, and although she had no monsters to use with it, she did have one card facedown while her life points stood at 6250. Caroline was still at full power with 8000 life points, and she was backed up by her Harpie Lady and Harpie Lady Sisters, powered by the Follow Wind Equip Spell Card to boost their stats to 2250/2400. She also had two other cards facedown, and one card in her hand.

The water duelist looked at the card she drew and said simply, "Uh...I'll just play this card facedown and end my turn." She sighed as she set her second facedown card.

"That's all?" Caroline asked skeptically, "Alright, my move!" She drew another card, and she grinned and held up the card she just drew. "I'll activate the magic of Cyber Shield, which I will equip to my Harpie Lady!" Suddenly, metal armor appeared on parts of her Harpie Lady's body, as her attack increased to 1800. Caroline grinned deviously as she said, "Now, I'll attack you directly with my Harpies! United Scratch Storm!"

"Uh oh..." Umi muttered helplessly, as she tried to put her arms up to defend herself, but that wasn't hardly enough as the four Harpies slashed at her in a flurry of feathers and talons, bringing her life points down even further to a low 2200.

"That's all for me!" Caroline said cheerfully, "Let's see what you've got, Umi!"**  
**  
"Hopefully a decent card..." Umi muttered under her breath as she drew another card, closing her eyes tightly until it was drawn. She slowly cracked her eyes, and soon she broke out into a smile as she saw what it was. "Amazing! I activate the magic of Pot of Greed to draw two more cards!" A chuckling green pot appeared on Umi's side of the field and shattered, allowing her to draw two cards. Umi's face lit up even more as she saw what the cards were that she drew.

"Did you get something good?" Caroline asked, seeing Umi's happy expression.

"Definitely!" Umi exclaimed, pushing a button on her Duel Disk, "I'll activate my facedown Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy your left hand facedown card!"

Instead of looking angry, Caroline instead chuckled and exclaimed, "And I'll activate that card...Fiend's Hand Mirror!" As the wind began to kick up around the card, it flipped up to reveal a demonic mirror that, at the moment, didn't show any reflection. Caroline smirked and said, "With this card, I can redirect your Spell Card to any other appropriate target...and I choose your other facedown card!" The image in the mirror began to morph as it adapted to show Umi's facedown card, but Umi wouldn't go down without a fight.

"And I'll activate that card! Frozen Soul!" she yelled. Right before the card was shattered by the wind, a pale, bloody skull flew out of it and began to circle the four Harpies, who looked at it with apprehension.

"I might as well activate this card since it was going to be destroyed," Umi remarked, "Since I'm losing by at least 2000 life points, this card forces you to skip your next Battle Phase!"

"Urgh...oh well, what's done is done," Caroline muttered, "Anything else?"

"Definitely! I'll send Umi to the graveyard in order to activate...A Legendary Ocean!" Umi exclaimed, swapping out Field Spells quickly. The water already on the field began to grow choppy, and it rose some more so it was almost knee level. The hologram also showed a beautiful temple under the water, though it looked like it had been abandoned for awhile.

"The city of Atlantis in all of its glory!" Umi said cheerfully, gazing down into the depths with happiness. "It grants all Water-Attribute monsters that either of us own some advantages. First, those monsters gain 200 attack and defense points."

"Okay, but neither of us have any Water-Attribute monsters on the field right now," Caroline wisely pointed out.

"Correct, but I'm about to rectify that!" Umi countered, grinning deviously, "It also downgrades the level of all Water-Attribute monsters in either of our hands by 1, and I'm going to take full advantage of that by summoning The Legendary Fisherman (ATK 1850/DEF 1600), who has been downgraded to a level four monster!"

"Oh crap..." Caroline's eyes widened as she realized what that meant. The water began to churn, and a dark shadow appeared on Umi's side of the field, growing larger every second. Suddenly, the surface of the water burst, and a shirtless man wielding a harpoon and riding a shark appeared on her side of the field.

"There's one more thing to mention about A Legendary Ocean," Umi pointed out, "It is treated as "Umi" while it is on the field, and The Legendary Fisherman is immune to all Spell Cards while Umi is on the field. So, even though his attack and defense won't change, he can still take out your Harpie Lady! Spirit Spear of the Ocean!" The marine warrior's mount shot towards the lone Harpie Lady flying above the surface of the water, but Caroline was ready for that.

"Not so fast! I activate Negate Attack and end the Battle Phase!" she cried out. The Legendary Fisherman jabbed forward with his spear, but a vortex appeared and sucked the harpoon right into it, to the warrior's chagrin.

"Darn...well, that stinks. I guess I'll just play this facedown and end my turn," Umi muttered, playing one more card from her hand.  
**  
**"Well, I guess I can't do all that much since I can't attack you, but I can fortify my defenses. I'll just set one card facedown for now," Caroline stated, doing just that.

"Understandable, since I've put you in a rather tough spot. However, it's about to get a lot worse!" Umi exclaimed. She added another card to her hand and looked over her options for a few moments before selecting one of her cards. "I'm going to take advantage of A Legendary Ocean once again and summon my downgraded Deepsea Warrior (ATK 1600/DEF 1800)!" From the depths of the water, another warrior broke the surface. This one wielded a wicked looking trident and sported armor that resembled that of a green fish.

"He has the same immunity to Spells that The Legendary Fisherman has, so his stats will stay the same. However, The Legendary Fisherman is still strong enough to take out your Harpie Lady! Attack her again with Spirit Spear of the Ocean!" The warrior's mount took off once more towards the lone lady on Caroline's side of the field, but she was again prepared.

"I activate Tailor of the Fickle!" she exclaimed, revealing the facedown she had just played. A man wearing a belt with tailoring tools in it appeared next to the Harpie Lady Sisters. "This card lets me move an Equip Spell from a monster on the field to another appropriate monster, so I'll move my Follow Wind from my sisters to my Harpie Lady!" The man swirled his hands around, and the extra wind that had boosted the Harpie Lady Sisters transferred from them to the lone Harpie Lady, raising her stats to 2100 and 1700 and reducing the sisters back to their original attack and defense. That boost gave Harpie Lady enough to dodge the harpoon thrust at her, and she retaliated with a raking claw that shattered The Legendary Fisherman, dropping Umi's life points even lower to 1950.

"Dang it!" Umi shouted angrily, "Okay, I move to my second Main Phase and activate Return of the Doomed! I'll send my Fortress Whale (ATK 2350/DEF 2150) to the graveyard to add The Legendary Fisherman back to my hand since he was destroyed in battle this turn, and that will do it for me." As her turn ended, her graveyard lit up with a flash of light, and The Legendary Fisherman briefly appeared before his card appeared in Umi's hand again.

"Sweet! Now I draw," and she drew her second card of her hand, "and activate Tribute Doll!" A gray doll shaped like a warrior with numerous stab wounds appeared on the field and wrapped itself around the Harpie Lady Sisters. "This lets me sacrifice one of my monsters and Special Summon a monster with seven stars or more from my hand, and I have the perfect one...Harpie's Pet Dragon (ATK 2000/DEF 2500)!" The sisters and Tribute Doll immediately vanished in a flash of light and were soon replaced by a large red dragon with a chain around its neck that Harpie Lady soon grabbed. "His attack and defense increase by 300 for each Harpie Lady on the field, and since I have one, his attack and defense rise to 2300 and 2800," Caroline explained.

"Awesome..." Umi grumbled.

"You haven't seen anything yet! Harpie Lady, attack Deepsea Warrior!" Her winged lady dropped the chain she was holding and immediately went in for the kill, slashing the scaled warrior to bits and, to Caroline's surprise, not reducing Umi's life points at all. "Hey, what's going...on..." Caroline trailed off as she looked from the battle to Umi, where multiple cyclones surrounded her in a protective formation.

"This is my Tornado Wall," Umi stated proudly, waving to where her facedown card had been, "As long as Umi remains on the field, even though my monsters might still get destroyed, I take no battle damage!"

"Wow...that's a pretty nice combo, Umi!" Caroline said in awe.

"Thanks! I like to think of it as a perfect defense, but of course, nothing is perfect," Umi replied, chuckling a little, "Are you done with your turn?"

"Yeah, since I can't attack with a monster that was summoned with Tribute Doll," she replied, "Go ahead."

"Why thank you!" Umi beamed, drawing another card. That brought her hand up to three cards, one of which was The Legendary Fisherman. She had a very low 1950 life points and had her Umi Field Spell Card and Tornado Wall Continuous Trap Card on the field. Caroline had no cards in her hand and a full 8000 life points. Her Harpie Lady was powered by Follow Wind and Cyber Shield, with a boosted attack and defense of 2100 and 1700, and she also had her Harpie's Pet Dragon, boosted by its own effect up to an attack and defense of 2300 and 2800. Both of her monsters were sitting in attack position.

Umi quickly selected two cards and said, "I'll set this monster facedown and then remove my Great White in my graveyard from the game to Special Summon Aqua Spirit in defense position!" A facedown monster appeared, soon followed by a young girl that seemed to form from the water, and her stats increased to 1800 and 1400.

"That's all for me," she said simply.

"Then I'll draw!" Caroline exclaimed, and she added a card to her hand...and to her surprise, her dragon began to stretch and kneel down, coming to a rest on its card. "What's going on?" she asked Umi suspiciously.

"It's the effect of my Aqua Spirit. During your Standby Phase, I can change the position of one of your monsters, and you can't change its position for the duration of your turn," she replied gleefully.

"Okay...well, that could be troublesome later, so I'll take it out with Harpie Lady. Scratch Claw!" With a screech, her Harpie Lady bid her order and sliced the Aqua Spirit to pieces, as it burst back into water.

"Sorry, Aqua Spirit..." Umi murmured.

"I can't do anything else, so I'll end my turn," Caroline stated.

"My draw!" and Umi drew her second card, "and I'll Summon The Legendary Fisherman again!" Her shark-mounted warrior reappeared from the depths. "Now, I'll Flip Summon my Penguin Soldier (ATK 750/DEF 500)." The head of a penguin popped out of the water, as well as the tip of a sword, even as his attack and defense rose to 950 and 700. "He's got a pretty nifty effect. When he's flipped faceup, I can return two monsters on the field to their owner's hands, and I think I'll clear your side of the field!"

Caroline paled. "No..." but she could do nothing as she took her two monsters back into her hand, and both Cyber Shield and Follow Wind shattered.

"Next, I'll activate Monster Reborn to bring back my Aqua Spirit!" The monster-reviving ankh appeared on the field and began to shine, and Aqua Spirit reformed from the water, with her stats back at 1800 and 1400 from A Legendary Ocean.

"Finally," and Umi held up her last card, and slowly flipped it around, "I activate Card Destruction, so we send all of our cards in our hand to the graveyard and draw the same amount. However, I don't have any, so you're the only one affected!" Caroline hissed and sent her Harpie Lady Sisters and two Harpie Ladies (one, Umi guessed, was the card she had drawn the previous turn) to the graveyard and drew three cards to replace them.

"Now, I'll attack you directly with my three monsters! First, The Legendary Fisherman attacks with Spirit Spear of the Ocean!" The shark mount rushed the warrior across the field quickly, and Caroline was soon stabbed through the shoulder with the harpoon, reducing her life points to 6150. "Next, Penguin Soldier attacks!" The tiny penguin warrior popped up and slashed Caroline across her chest, reducing her life points to 5200. "Finally, Aqua Spirit!" The water spirit nodded and sent a large, crashing wave across the field, drenching Caroline in water and sending her life points down even further to 3400.

"Ouch...that was a good move," Caroline muttered, wincing where she had been attacked, "Though you could have done without the water..."

"Well, I am the Water Duelist. Would it be right without water?" Umi asked, smirking.

"I guess not...are you done?" she asked, trying to wring out her hair.

"Yup! Your move!" Umi replied.

"Okay, then..." Caroline mumbled, drawing another card. She glanced at it, and her face brightened slightly. "Well, I might have a chance at a comeback here. I'll summon my third Harpie Lady," and another feathered femme fatale appeared, flying above the water on the field, "and I'll activate a second Elegant Egotist to Special Summon my second Harpie Lady Sisters from my hand!" Now Caroline's field once again sported four Harpies, each with their base attack and defense.

"Impressive. Your deck really does turn out the cards for you. But what can you do with them?" Umi asked.

"They can eliminate a couple of your monsters, that's what! Harpie Lady, attack Penguin Soldier!" With a loud screech, Harpie Lady quickly eviscerated the small bird soldier, but due to Tornado Wall, Umi was safe from damage. "And I'm getting tired of that fisherman, so I'll destroy him with my Harpie Lady Sisters! Triangle Ecstasy Spark!" The signature attack of the three Harpies began to charge up between them, but instead of trying to challenge it, The Legendary Fisherman simply dove underwater with his mount.

"...what?" she asked weakly.

"Unfortunately, The Legendary Fisherman can't ever be selected as an attack target, so that won't work," Umi chuckled, seeing Caroline's dumbstruck expression. "You can still attack my Aqua Spirit."

"Fine! Harpies, annihilate it!" A flash of sparking energy, and the water spirit soon burst back into water. Again, Umi's life points were safe.

"I'll set a card facedown and end my turn," Caroline said, sounding a little discouraged. Eying The Legendary Fisherman, who had resurfaced, she asked, "Just a quick question. If I can't attack him, does that mean I can attack you directly if he's the only one on the field?"

"Exactly, which is why I called this my perfect defense. He can't be destroyed, and you can't harm me." Umi grinned confidently.

"But, as you said, no defense is perfect. However, I can't do anything now, so let's see what you can do," Caroline replied.

"Now, I draw!" and she gave herself a hand once again, "and I'll attack your Harpie Lady with The Legendary Fisherman!" Quickly, Caroline's lone Harpie Lady was skewered by the warrior's spear, and her life points decreased to 2850.

Unbeknown to Caroline, Umi heaved a sigh of relief as she thought, 'That was risky, but it doesn't look like she was setting me up for a trap.'

On the other side of the field, Caroline was thinking as well. 'I can't afford to use my trap yet...just a little longer.'

Taking Umi's silence to mean she was done, she drew a card, and her eyes widened as she saw what it was. She grinned and exclaimed, "This is perfect! I'll activate Harpie's Feather Duster to destroy all of your Spell and Trap Cards, so your perfect defense is no more!"

Umi paled and whispered, "Oh no..." but there was nothing she could do as the Harpie Lady Sisters all swept their arms in a wide arc, sending slicing blades of wind that obliterated Umi's Field Spell and Tornado Wall. Their owner remained silent as she placed them carefully into her graveyard.

"And I seem to recall you saying that The Legendary Fisherman's effects only work when 'Umi' or something that acts like it is on the field, and I don't see anything like that, so I'll attack with my sisters! Triangle Ecstasy Spark!" Her winged beasts quickly responded and sent Umi's warrior packing for good, lowering her life points slightly to 1850.

"Thank you, my fisherman. You did well," Umi murmured.

Caroline took note of this and said, "It's really great that you think so much of your monsters. They deserve at least that much."

"I would do it for any card, but this deck is special since it's based on my dad's old deck, with a few modifications I've made over time," Umi explained.

Caroline nodded. "I can understand that. This deck is modeled after the one my aunt Mai used back in the day, but with some changes of my own. These monsters are my friends, and I am honored to battle with them." As she said that, Harpie Lady Sisters softly screeched in agreement.

Umi chuckled and said, "It seems we both have sentimental attachments to the decks we use. Hopefully mine will give me what I need to win this duel!" She slowly reached for her deck and readied to draw her next card...

...xXx...

While Umi and Caroline were duking it out, what had Hikari been up to? She had exited her corridor after a very long walk, which placed her into an overhead walkway. It was located close to where Kai had exited his, and when she had finally reached the surface, the duel between Kai and Tim was already in full swing. Even though she had a good view of the duel, she decided to not stay too long and watch and instead exited the walkway opposite of where she had come up. She found a map of the island and discovered a park a short walk away, so she began to travel towards it.

A few minutes later, she reached her destination, and she took a quick look around to see what was there. A few basketball and tennis courts were clustered together on one side of the park, a walking trail, with origins elsewhere, circled the park, and a beautiful flower garden right in the main part of the park.

As she began to wander through the flower garden, she noticed a concession stand that stood in the middle of the park, with a few benches around it for people to enjoy their food. Inspired by the fact that her stomach was growling ominously, she made a beeline for the concession stand.

There was one other person in line, a person, Hikari noted, that was wearing a red and orange Duel Disk. He was just getting his food, which by the looks of it was a gargantuan burger dripping with a bright red sauce and a matching side of fries. He wore a black vest over a dark red t-shirt as well as cargo shorts. He obviously worked out a lot, so it was no surprise that he would be getting such an enormous meal.

Hikari sauntered up to the counter and told the young man who was working there, "I'd like a chicken sandwich, hold the mayo, and an iced tea, please." He nodded and immediately went about getting her food prepared. Meanwhile, the other guy had walked away with his food and was heading across the park.

Her sandwich was soon prepared, and Hikari left the guy a tip for the speed before she took off after the young man, taking a large bite out of her chicken sandwich, which she noted was extremely good.

Taking care not to get too close to him, she followed him for awhile, eventually exiting the park. The young man took them briefly through a forest before entering an industrial area filled with the office buildings associated with Industrial Illusions headquarters and the Kaibacorp divisions in collaboration with Industrial Illusions. By then, Hikari was long done with her sandwich and was now working on her drink, and she noted that her prey was also finished.

Suddenly, he stopped and turned around, saying, "Well, is this good for our duel, beautiful?"

Hikari was briefly surprised but quickly recovered and said, "I guess I wasn't as stealthy as I thought. Sure, if you'd like. I just hope you know what you're getting yourself into."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure I can stand up to your Blue-Eyes White Dragons, Hikari Kaiba. The question is whether you can stand the heat from me, Torch Johnson!" he exclaimed, activating his colorful Duel Disk.

"We'll just have to see!" she replied, also activating her Duel Disk.

"Duel!" Both shouted.

...xXx...

AN: Okay, two duels in action! Will Umi draw what she needs, or will she fall? And can Hikari "stand the heat" from the mystery duelist, Torch Johnson? Tune in next time!

And please review!


	7. BlueEyes Neutralized!

AN: What does Umi draw? Will it be enough to withstand Caroline's assault? And what type of deck will Torch Johnson use to battle Hikari?

…xXx…Chapter 7 – Blue-Eyes Neutrailzed?...xXx

Umi looked at the card she had just drawn, and while not overjoyed, she did look somewhat pleased. "I'll activate another copy of A Legendary Ocean!" she cried out as the battlefield once again showed the lost city of Atlantis below the depths of the sea. "Next, I'll use its effect to summon the almighty sea dragon god, Kairyu-Shin (ATK 1800/DEF 1500)!" As the monster was slapped down on Umi's Duel Disk, the water began churning and foaming. Caroline, in awe, watched as an enormous sea snake with no eyes but a large mouth rose from the depths and roared loudly. Its ATK and DEF soon adjusted to 2000 and 1700 respectively.

"This card was key to my father's strategy in the original Duelist Kingdom tournament, and now he'll lead the way to my comeback!" she exclaimed happily as her sea dragon grunted in agreement. "Now wipe out her Harpie Lady Sisters with Tidal Rush!" Kairyu-Shin roared loudly once again, creating a gigantic tidal wave that zoomed towards Harpie Lady Sisters.

Caroline wouldn't have any of it, though. "I activate my Trap Card…Sakuretsu Armor!" A demonic set of armor clamped onto the sea dragon and exploded, taking the attached monster with it. Without any power to back it, the wave petered out and barely made a splash when it reached Caroline.

"Darn…I'm sorry about that, Dad…" Umi whispered as the last traces of her dragon faced away. She soon wiped her face of any sadness to replace it with a look of happiness. "Congrats, Caroline! It's all you!"

Her opponent drew her mandatory card and then said, "Harpies, you know what to do!" With a screech and a sparking blaze, Umi's life points were reduced to 0.

The ocean battlefield faded away, and Caroline was glad to notice that her legs, shoes, and socks felt slightly drier, though they still felt a little damp.

"Good duel, Caroline! I haven't had a challenge like that in ages!" Umi exclaimed, running over to her opponent.

"Thanks a lot! That was an amazing duel!" Caroline replied.

"Well, I guess we're even on Star Chips, then," and Umi handed over one of hers, which Caroline promptly put onto her glove. "I'm not done yet, though. I've still got three Star Chips, and I'm planning on making it to the finals!"

"And so do I!" Caroline said confidently, as the two shared a quick hug and then went on their way.

...xXx...

Hikari was trying to size up her opponent as they prepared to duel, but she couldn't get a read on him besides the fact that he was a flirt and seemed to be an exercise nut.

The holographic coin appeared on the field between them, and Hikari was interrupted from her musing by her opponent saying, "I'll let you make the call, gorgeous. How many Star Chips are you wantin' to bet?"

"Thank you! Let's make it two!" Hikari beamed, noticing that her opponent was already sporting three Star Chips to his name, "I'll call heads!" The coin immediately flipped into the air, rotated a few times and came down to land on... "Tails? Dang it..." she groaned.

"Don't worry about it, little lady. I'll let you have the first turn!" Torch drawled. Hikari must have had a look of surprise on her face because he added with a chuckle, "It's only the chivalrous thing to do to let a young lady go first."

Hikari shrugged and said, "Thanks a lot, I guess. Let's duel!" Both duelists drew their opening hands of five cards, and Hikari drew a sixth to start the match. She looked at what she had drawn and grinned. 'This is an amazing opening hand! I got extremely lucky!'

She picked one of her cards and said, "I summon the Lord of Dragons (ATK 1200/DEF 1100) in attack position!" On her side of the field, a man dressed in dragon-like armor and a long cape appeared on the field.

"Next, I activate The Flute of Summoning Dragon to Special Summon two Dragon-Type monsters from my hand, and I choose two Blue-Eyes White Dragons (ATK 3000/DEF 2500)!" A long flute with a mouth shaped like a dragon's head appeared in the hands of Lord of Dragons, and he blew on it, making a loud, mournful tune. Immediately, Hikari's beasts of destruction appeared next to him, growling ominously.

"Okay, Torch, that's all from me. Let's see what you've got!" Hikari exclaimed.

"My pleasure, gorgeous! I draw," and he added one more card to his hand, "and activate the power of Dark Room of Nightmare!" Immediately, dark shadows began to swirl around on the field. "Whenever I inflict effect damage on you, this card makes you lose an extra 300 LP!" he explained, "Kind of like this! I activate Meteor of Destruction!" A large, flaming meteor shot down from the sky and enveloped Hikari. She winced as the heat surrounded her and reduced her LP to 7000. Torch waved to the shadows and said, "And now Dark Room of Nightmare activates!" The dark shadows swirled around Hikari, and her LP reduced further to 6700.

"Next, I'll Summon Solar Flare Dragon (ATK 1500/DEF 1000) in attack position!" Torch's first monster appeared, a long fiery dragon that curled up while constantly emitting embers from its body. "I'll also set one card facedown and end my turn." As soon as he said that, Solar Flare Dragon spat a large fireball at Hikari, who again winced with discomfort as her LP decreased even more to 6200, and then more to 5900 as the shadows enveloped her once more.

"Okay, what was that all about?" she asked angrily.

"Oops, sorry beautiful. My Solar Flare Dragon inflicts 500 LP of damage to you during the End Phase of each of my turns," Torch explained.

"Wonderful..." Hikari groaned as she drew her next card. She looked at it and grinned. "I'll activate Graceful Charity to draw three cards," and she added three cards to her hand, "and discard two of them to the graveyard." She carefully selected two cards and sent them to the graveyard. Now, I'll attack your Solar Flare Dragon with one of my Blue-Eyes! Burst Stream of Destruction!" Quickly, one of the Blue-Eyes began to form a ball of lightning in its mouth and fired it at the smaller dragon.

"Not so fast! I activate Negate Attack!" Torch exclaimed, and the lightning soon disappeared into vortexes before they reached Solar Flare Dragon.

"Darn...okay, then, I'll set one card facedown and end my turn," Hikari murmured.

"Okay, beautiful, my turn!" Torch exclaimed, and he drew another card into his hand. "I'll activate the power of Molten Destruction!" As he played the Field Spell Card, lava began to seep from the ground, and a large volcano appeared behind Torch, frequently spewing lava onto the field.

"Argh!" Hikari screamed, jumping around the lava, "Not my shoes!"

Torch just laughed, "Don't worry, gorgeous! The lava won't go on your side of the field if you don't want it there!"

"Well, I really don't want it over here!" she hissed. Torch just shrugged, and the lava stopped at midfield.

"Well, now that that is done, my Solar Flare Dragon gets a little boost!" he explained, and he was right, as the fire dragon's ATK and DEF adjusted to 2000 and 600. "And, I'll summon a second Solar Flare Dragon!" he exclaimed, and another fire dragon appeared next to the first, with its stats adjusted accordingly.

"Okay, is that all?" Hikari asked.

"Not quite. You see, whenever a Solar Flare Dragon is on the field, if you have any Pyro-Type monsters under your control, you can't attack Solar Flare Dragon, and since Solar Flare Dragon is a Pyro-Type monster, you can't attack me! I'll play this little number facedown and call it quits for now," he said, smirking a little bit as he set another card. His Solar Flare Dragons didn't seem to think so, however, as they both shot fireballs at Hikari to reduce her LP down to 4900, and then more to 4300. "Oops, I guess I wasn't quite done," he chuckled.

...xXx...

"Pegasus, who the hell is this guy?" Kaiba growled as he watched his daughter's LP continue to drop. He, Pegasus, Kaiba's retainer Roland, and Pegasus' butler Croquet were watching the duels in progess in Pegasus' dining room up at his castle.

"Hmm...Torch Johnson..." Pegasus murmured, "He's consistently in the Top 25 in the Duel Monsters World Rankings, and he came in second place in the World Championships four years ago, the year before your daughter won, Kaiba-boy." He glanced over at Kaibacorp's CEO, who still looked both angry and worried, and said, "I wouldn't worry too much, Kaiba-boy. Hikari-girl can handle this guy. The ones she really needs to worry about are the eliminators I found!"

"Yeah, you and your hand-picked eliminators..." Kaiba groaned. Pegasus just laughed and took a sip of wine.

...xXx...

Hikari groaned as she drew a card, trying not to let the burns bother her too much. 'Dang it, I still don't have that much I can use. Oh well, I'll just have to make due.' She selected three cards and said, "I'll set these three cards facedown and end my turn."

"That's all, gorgeous? You must not have a very good hand right now," Torch chucked as he drew another card. His eyes grew big as he saw what it was. "Well, well, well. I wasn't expecting to get this so soon, but I won't complain! I'll sacrifice _your_ two Blue-Eyes to Special Summon my Lava Golem (ATK 3000/DEF 2500) to your side of the field!"

"WHAT?" Hikari screeched, "You can't do that!"

"Oh, but I can gorgeous. Just watch!" he grinned in reply. Suddenly, both Blue-Eyes exploded into magma, and Hikari was horrified to watch as a cage formed around her made out of lava, and a large lava beast arose from the lava, with Hikari and her cage as its necklace. Being a FIRE-Attribute monster, its ATK and DEF adjusted accordingly to 3500 and 2100.

"Meet my Lava Golem, or should I say, your Lava Golem. He's a lovely guy, but he's rather unstable, as you will see here in a second," Torch explained, "In the meantime, I'll get rid of your Lord of Dragons with one of my Solar Flare Dragons!" One of his fire dragons immediately shot towards Hikari's side of the field, but Hikari was ready this time.

"I activate Sakuretsu Armor!" she exclaimed. Her Trap Card was revealed, and a demonic set of armor latched onto the oncoming dragon and promptly exploded. "When you declare an attack, Sakuretsu Armor destroys the attacking monster," she said happily.

"Good play, beautiful. However, I still have one more monster to attack with! Destroy Lord of Dragons, Solar Flare Dragon!" This time, the speeding dragon reached the spellcaster and wrapped itself around the man tightly before he exploded into pixels. Hikari winced as her LP dropped to 3500.

"Okay, then, I guess my turn's over," Torch stated simply, even as Solar Flare Dragon shot another fireball at Hikari, sending her LP further down to 3000, with another drop to 2700 thanks to Dark Room of Nightmare.

'I need something good, or that dragon will burn me alive...' Hikari thought to herself as she drew her next card, which turned out to be A Wingbeat of Giant Dragon. 'Perfect!' she though gleefully. 'Now I just need to get my Blue-Eyes onto the field!' Her thoughts were interrupted by gushing lava that fell through the cage and reduced her LP to 1700. "What the heck was that for?" Hikari exclaimed.

"I forgot to mention that Lava Golem takes away 1000 LP from its controller during their Standby Phases. And since that counts as inflicted damage..." he trailed off as the shadows took 300 more LP from Hikari, down to 1400, "Dark Room of Nightmare still kicks in."

"Okay, but I'm getting rid of your little present!" Hikari started to say, but she was stopped by Torch.

"By any chance, were you planning on sacrificing him in some way, shape, or form?" he asked.

"That would be the plan," she gritted out.

"That's unfortunate, because now I'm activating my facedown card...Mask of Restrict!" Torch exclaimed, even as a large, demonic mask appeared behind him and remained there, floating. "This little beauty does exactly what it sounds like. It restricts our ability to sacrifice monsters, so you can't get rid of Lava Golem unless he's destroyed!"

"...you've got to be kidding me..." Hikari groaned.

"Not at all, beautiful! It's an unbeatable strategy!" he said lightly.

"Well, I may not be able to sacrifice my monsters, but there's nothing preventing from attacking you since I got rid of one of those dragons! Okay, Lava Golem...thingie...uh, what's this thing's attack called?" Hikari asked sheepishly.

"A question I get often. Golem Volcano, sweetheart," Torch replied.

"Alright, Lava thingie! Golem Volcano!" Hikari exclaimed...and then shrieked as she grabbed the bars of her cage and held on for dear life as the monstrosity sent a blazing fist at the small dragon, completely obliterating it as Torch's LP shot down to 6500. "That'll teach you to give me a strong monster without guarding yourself sufficiently!" she huffed triumphantly, "I'll end my turn!"

"Okey-dokey, let's see what I can do here," Torch said lazily as he drew a card, giving himself a hand once more. "I guess I'll just set this monster facedown and end my turn." A facedown monster appeared on Torch's side of the field, his only line of defense from Hikari's lovely Lava Golem. "You've only got one more turn after this next one before Lava Golem saps you of all of your LP, beautiful. Play wisely."

"Whatever," she muttered, drawing another card. Her eyes widened as she saw it, and she said, "I'll set this card facedown and then attack your facedown monster with Lava Golem!" Again, she was scared for her life as the golem sent another blazing fist at the facedown monster, which was briefly revealed to be a mechanical turtle before shattering.

"You just destroyed my UFO Turtle (ATK 1400/DEF 1200), so I can Special Summon another FIRE-Attribute monster from my deck in attack mode, and I'll bring out another UFO Turtle!" Torch explained, as an identical copy of the destroyed turtle rematerialized, this one having its ATK and DEF changed to 1800 and 800.

"Fine, he'll be toast once I get him during my next turn!" Hikari smirked.

"If you last that long, beautiful," he replied, drawing his next card.

Torch took his time examining his options and then said, "I'll set another monster facedown and switch my UFO Turtle to defense mode and end my turn. Back to you, beautiful!"

Hikari gritted her teeth as she slowly drew her next card. However, her eyes widened once she saw what it was. 'This is amazing...argh!' she thought as she gained a brief sense of hope before Lava Golem's rapidly decomposing body sapped her of 1000 LP, and Dark Room of Nightmare took another 300, leaving her with only 100 LP.

Hikari, moving gingerly from the burns, managed to mutter, "I'll set a monster and activate my facedown card, Gift of the Mystical Elf!" Behind her, the Mystical Elf appeared, showering Hikari with light. "For every monster on the field, I get back 300 LP, and there are 3 monsters on the field, so that's 900 more LP for me!" she said confidently as her LP shot up to 1000. "Now I end my turn."

"That's all, beautiful? I expected more than that!" Torch exclaimed, drawing a card. "I'll flip summon my facedown monster, Darkfire Soldier 1 (ATK 1700/DEF 1150) and then attack your facedown card with him!" From under the card, a warrior with flames shooting off of his body jumped up and charged at the facedown card, swinging with his flaming sword as his stats adjusted to 2200 and 750. He effortlessly sliced the card in two, briefly revealing a mechanical pod before it shattered. Torch paled as he saw a large black hole appear where the pod had been and sucked every monster on the field into it. "You've got to be kidding me, gorgeous. A Cyber Jar (ATK 900/DEF 900)?"

"Oh yeah! Now we both pick up 5 cards and Special Summon any monsters that can be Special Summoned!" Hikari explained as she took the first five cards from her deck and showed them to her opponent, who did the same. Hikari drew Tyrant Dragon (ATK 2900/DEF 2500), Kaiser Sea Horse (ATK 1700/DEF 1650), Paladin of White Dragon (ATK 1900/DEF 1200), Megamorph, and Shadow Spell. Torch drew another Meteor of Destruction, Inferno (ATK 1100/DEF 1900), Twin-Headed Fire Dragon (ATK 2200/DEF 1700), Incandescent Ordeal, and Darkfire Soldier 2 (ATK 1700/DEF 1100). Both duelists Special Summoned the lone monster they could summon in attack mode, Hikari's a warrior fishman and Torch's another soldier swathed in flame whose stats changed to 2200 and 700 due to the environment.

"Alright, that was a dumb move on my part, but I'll try to fix it. I'll attack with my Darkfire Soldier! Destroy Kaiser Sea Horse!" His warrior quickly sliced the sea horse man in two, cutting Hikari's LP in half.

"Next, I'll sacrifice my Darkfire Soldier 2 to summon the Twin-Headed Fire Dragon I just got!" The warrior flashed away to be replaced by a two headed dragon with one set of wings and a single clawed arm. Both heads screeched as its ATK and DEF changed to 2700 and 1200.

"Next, I'll remove my Darkfire Soldier 1 in my graveyard from play to bring out Inferno in defense mode!" A ghostly image of the fire warrior briefly appeared before exploding and reforming into a flaming specter, peppered with skulls over its body, with its ATK and DEF changing to 1600 and 1500. "And that will end my turn," he said simply.

Hikari silently drew her next card, bringing her hand up to seven cards and plenty of options. Her eyes narrowed as she began to formulate a plan in her mind. "Okay, first I activate one of my facedown cards...Enemy Controller!" Her Spell Card flipped faceup, showing a large video game controller. "I'll choose to activate its first effect to change the battle position of one of your monsters, so I'll put Inferno in attack mode! Input code B, A, B, A, up, up, right, left!" The controller's cord shot out and embedded itself into the fiery ghost as it settled down to rest on top of its card.

"Second, I'm going to get around your Mask of Restrict, and I'll start by activating Call of the Haunted to revive one of my Blue-Eyes White Dragons!" she exclaimed happily as from the gravestones on the field, her beast of destruction reappeared and roared mightily, obviously happy to be back from the grave.

"Okay, the Blue-Eyes is back, but how does that help you out, beautiful?" Torch asked lazily.

"With this!" and Hikari selected one of her cards in her hand and flipped it so Torch could see it. "I activate A Wingbeat of Giant Dragon! By returning a Level 5 or higher Dragon-Type monster from my side of the field to my hand, all of the Spell and Trap Cards on the field are destroyed!" she exclaimed gleefully.

"Oh shit..." Torch muttered as Hikari's Blue-Eyes took flight and gave a few strong flaps of its wings. The wind generated by those flaps soon turned into razor sharp blades that ripped through Torch's Dark Room of Nightmare, Mask of Restrict, and Molten Destruction as well as Hikari's own Call of the Haunted and her Dragon's Rage and Blast Held by a Tribute, her other two facedown cards.

"It's a shame to get rid of those cards, but getting rid of the ones you have was a bigger priority," Hikari stated.

"Yeah, but you also lost your Blue-Eyes," Torch pointed out, "and you don't have a way to get it back out onto the field."

"Are you sure about that?" Hikari asked slyly, "I activate Monster Reborn to bring back my Kaiser Sea Horse!" The revival ankh appeared and shined brightly, revealing the sea horse warrior once more.

"I'm still not seeing it, gorgeous," Torch said confusedly.

"You obviously don't know what my Kaiser Sea Horse is capable of, then. If I'm going to summon a LIGHT-Attribute monster that requires two sacrifices, then he counts for both of them. And guess what attribute my Blue-Eyes is?" Hikari asked happily.

"Damn it!" Torch cursed. The sea-horse warrior quickly vanished in a shining vortex, and the Blue-Eyes White Dragon once again appeared on the field with a mighty roar.

"And it gets even better," Hikari exclaimed, selecting one of the other cards in her hand, "I'll activate Megamorph and equip it to my Blue-Eyes, and since my LP are lower than yours, it doubles its ATK!" The Blue-Eyes seemed to buff up as its ATK quickly rose to a towering 6000. "Now, attack Inferno with Burst Stream of Destruction!" The beast quickly charged up a sparking ball of lightning and shot it at the flaming apparition, obliterating it and sending Torch's LP plummeting down to 1600.

"I'll also set a card facedown and end my turn," Hikari stated, placing one more card into her Duel Disk before smirking, her confidence seemingly back.

"Well, beautiful, you've got me in a real predicament, don't ya?" Torch said, frowning as he drew another card, "The only thing I can do is set a card facedown and end my turn, right?" A facedown card materialized behind the two-headed dragon.

'What is that?' Hikari asked herself in her mind as she drew again, 'He looks confident...a little too confident...' Indeed, Torch was standing with his arms crossed, smirking widely as he looked at Hikari with a look that said, "I've got something waiting for you if you attack." She glance at her hand and saw what she had. 'I can at least set up a defense.'

"Well, Torch, I think I'll start off by activating Soul Exchange!" Hikari exclaimed, "This lets me use one of your monsters as a sacrifice in case I need one. It's usually more for summoning high level monsters, but it's also perfectly acceptable to use it for a Ritual Summon, and I have the perfect card to use it with...White Dragon Ritual!" A white light began to surround Torch's Twin-Headed Fire Dragon, and Hikari said, "I have to sacrifice monsters whose levels total four or greater, and your dragon does the trick, so begone, Twin-Headed Fire Dragon and become...Paladin of White Dragon (ATK 1900/DEF 1200)!" The light burst into a shining radiance, and a smaller version of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon emerged, with a knight clothed in gold and silver armor with a long, thin sword riding on its back.

"Woah...I'm guessing that's another sidekick for your Blue-Eyes, isn't it, sweetheart?" Torch asked in amazement.

"You got that right, _darling_," Hikari said sarcastically, "It's just a shame that I can't attack during the turn I use Soul Exchange. To wrap things up, I'll use my Normal Summon and bring out my Blackland Fire Dragon (ATK 1500/DEF 800) and hand it over to you." As Hikari ended her turn, another dragon appeared, this one with green skin and blind, white eyes.

Torch silently drew his next card, and his face lit up as he saw what it was. "Well, gorgeous, I've got just what I need to defeat you. Let's go ahead and reset the scene with another Molten Destruction!" His Field Spell immediately caused rumbling as the spitting volcano rose out of the ground behind him once more. "Next, I know you missed him, so I'll activate my own Call of the Haunted to bring back Lava Golem!" A few tombstones popped up around Torch as he was lifted into the air by the cage necklace that had suddenly appeared around him, courtesy of Lava Golem, whose ATK and DEF adjusted to 3500 and 2100.

"I'm sorry to say this, but it's time to wrap this duel up, gorgeous. Lava Golem, attack her Paladin of White Dragon with Golem Volcano and finish this up!" His hulking behemoth reared back and prepared to send a flaming fist towards the much smaller dragon and mount.

"Not so fast! I activate Shadow Spell!" Hikari exclaimed as chains shot out of the ground and wrapped around Lava Golem, restraining its arms to its side. Its ATK also shot down to 2800.

Torch looked surprised for a moment and then chuckled. "That's all I could do, then. I'll set a monster facedown and end my turn."****

"I guess this is it, then," Hikari said as she drew another card. "I'll summon The Dragon Dwelling in the Cave (ATK 1300/DEF 2000) and attack your facedown monster with him! Cave Exhaust!" At that moment, a large green dragon appeared on all fours and exhaled a large burst of air that obliterated Torch's facedown monster, which was revealed to be Molten Zombie (ATK 1600/DEF 400). "Blue-Eyes, destroy Lava Golem with Burst Stream!" The large dragon quickly charged up a ball of lightning and shot it at the melting behemoth, which exploded into molten fragments upon impact and sent Torch's LP down to 3300. "And now Paladin of White Dragon and Blackland Fire Dragon will finish things off!" Hikari exclaimed triumphantly. First, her dragon rider swooped in and thrust his sword into Torch's shoulder, reducing his LP down to 1400, and then her blind dragon let loose a stream of fire that scorched Torch's LP down to 0.

All of the holograms disappated, and Hikari walked over to her opponent, who was gingerly getting up off of the ground. "Well, beautiful, you certainly let me have it, didn't you?" he said, chuckling a little.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," she said, holding out her hand. Torch grabbed it and hoisted himself into a standing position.

He took his glove and pried two Star Chips out of it and handed them to Hikari, who happily stuck them into her own glove, giving her a total of four Star Chips. He then quickly jotted something down on a piece of paper that he fished from his pocket and gave it to Hikari before running off. "I'll see you in the finals, gorgeous! Don't lose before then!"

Hikari, confused, looked down at the piece of paper and opened it up, revealing a phone number, presumably Torch's number. "You've got to be kidding me..." she muttered before jamming the slip into her pocket.


End file.
